Almighty Being
by MadHatter5959
Summary: Only a month after Shepard saved the galaxy, and already it seems the many species living in it can't get along with each other. But on a mission to kill the small group of surviving Cerberus members, Shepard discovers a new threat, one that may throw the galaxy back into chaos. Can Shepard once again protect everyone? Or will his luck finally run dry. There is lemon.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1**_

John Shepard stumbled, catching himself right before he face planted the floor. The metal was cold under his hands, and he had the thought of just lying down and sleeping. Before these thoughts could fester, he pushed himself back into his feet, groaning with pain and hearing a slight dripping as his blood fell to the ground. He looked up and out the citadels massive windows upon earth, seeing the reapers tear apart the fleets fighting them. So much destruction, so much death, and he could stop it; all he had to do was get closer and shoot until something happened. But his destination seemed so far away, and he was getting light headed. He looked back and saw the catalyst; a blue mass in the shape of what appeared to be a small boy. It looked familiar, but he could barely walk, let alone think about it. The catalyst said nothing, content with just staring at him with its cold eyes. He felt like it was staring into his soul, sending a shiver down his back and making him walk again, slowly, one foot in front of the other. He hobbled forward, towards the giant tube the catalyst gestured towards, leaving a small trail of blood in his wake. The pain had been getting worse fore awhile, but now he barely felt it, the pain leaving and leaving behind a numb feeling, which he guessed was not good. But he didn't have time to worry about himself, worry about dying, worry about how he saw Tali on the ground motionless in a pool of blood. He only had 1 thing to worry about; destroying the reapers.

He heard his footsteps echo as he slowly went onward, getting closer and closer. It was so quiet that everything echoed very loudly, vibrating through his skull and driving him mad. If he wasn't dying he would worry about going insane because of it, but he didn't have time to go insane. He chuckled to himself, not knowing why, turning with the path as it turned and elevated a bit, and making his trip harder. He didn't think he was going to make it, and his vision started going black around the edges. He shook his head, trying to drive it away, and when he felt somewhat in control he noticed he was at the top of the incline. He sighed with weariness and slowly turned left.

There it was, dark and ominous, encased in glass. He was finally close enough; he had made it. He started forward, slowly raising his gun and pulling the trigger. A loud pop, and he saw the bullet hit the glass; his aim was off. He readjusted his gun and shot again. Another pop, making his ears ring, and another bullet hit the glass, making a crunching sound. He was on target this time, but he didn't even break the glass. He lost all thought at that moment, and just started shooting. He did not notice it but as he shot, his walk became more confident, and his back slowly straightened out. He forgot all pain, all of his weariness, his goal in sight. As the glass shattered, he grabbed the gun with his other hand, shooting the dark tube dead on. After his second shot, it set off a small explosion, knocking him back with force, but he kept walking on, shooting until there was a huge flash of light and-

Shepard jolted awake, flinging his blankets off of him and sitting up, panting and slick with sweat. He groaned as his pain danced up his side, still sore and beaten. He laid his head into his hand, waiting for his heart rate to go back to normal. That dream again. It was a memory he could not escape, awake or asleep apparently. He had gone a few days without it, and had thought it was over. But it had come back to haunt him.

He got up, walking straight into the bathroom, stripping off his clothes, and turning the shower on. He let the hot water hit his face and wash over him, relaxing his body. He could not believe it had been over a month since he had ended the reapers. It felt like it happened yesterday. He was completely unconscious for a whole week after they discovered him among the rubble, barely breathing. He almost didn't make it; the doctors made sure to let him know that if they had found him as little as an hour later he most likely would have died. He couldn't believe he had lived in the first place, and his body disagreed as well, pain shooting all over his body until they sedated him. Even after he woke up when Cerberus stole him from death he had not felt such pain. He turned the knob, shutting off the stream of water, getting out of the shower to stand there, dripping. He was almost completely healed now, only scars and soreness to show that anything had happened at all. He had so many scars know he had lost count of them. He didn't really need tattoos; His battles left their own. He stretched, trying to get rid of his soreness, and traveled into his room, searching for clothes. Admiral Hackett had given him leave for as long as he needed, and he planned to use it, putting on regular civilian clothes in what felt like forever.

After taking care of the rest of his morning routine, he headed out the door, breathing in the fresh air and enjoying the feel of the suns rays, warming him up. Since he had saved the galaxy, He had been rewarded with a nice apartment, accompanied by electricity and working water. He had objected at first, even though it wasn't permanent, saying he wanted not special treatment. But they insisted, and he now was glad they did; hot showers helped with his soreness, and when he had his nightmare there was no one else nearby to disturb with his thrashing.

He started walking. He could have requested transportation, but he wanted to enjoy the Earth he had nearly lost. Besides, the hospital wasn't to far away, and he wanted to pick up something on the way. He waved at some people passing by, wishing them a good morning, and smiled to himself when he thought of who he was going to visit. Tali, a shy, adorable quarian who had found her way into his heart. When he had first woken up, he was struck with grief, remembering the horrific image of her bleeding on the ground. But not even a full day later Admiral Raan visited him. He was glad she was alive, and when she informed him that Tali had been save he would have hugged her, only his stitches stopping him. She was even closer to death then he had been, Almost dying once from the wounds she received, then again from a mean fever that ravaged her for 2 days. Once she broke the fever, the doctors assured him that the worse was over. He couldn't even describe how happy he was that she pulled through. He thanked the doctors multiple times, and even shed a few tears. He was a hardened soldier, and always tried his best not to show emotions, but said to himself screw it. He and Tali both almost died and he saved the galaxy. He could cry over his girlfriend of he wanted to.

He stopped at a few market stands, scanning their wares. Earth had been hit hard, but they are recovering fast as they always did, and had already opened temporary stands. A lot of people were injured from the war, and they sold merchandise accordingly. He kept looking until he found a bouquet of beautiful red roses, and bought them. He didn't know if Tali was into roses, but every show he watched, person he asked, and book he read told him that he was supposed to buy her flowers or roses. He wasn't exactly a pro at being a boyfriend; he had always been to busy being a soldier to bother with relationships, and he even surprised himself when he admitted to Tali that he had feelings for her. Half the time he had no idea what he was doing, and always second guessed himself, but Tali never seemed mind. In fact, she seemed to love his cheesy compliments. It was due to her accepting him as he was that he fell head over heels for her.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice he was already at the front doors of the hospital, and as he walked blindly forward, he slammed into someone. He was a big guy, but it was him that was sent staggering back. He regained his balance and looked at the roses, sighing in relief when he saw they weren't crushed. He turned towards the person. "I'm so sorry, I was not paying attention. Are you-"and stopped as he heard laughter, and realized it was Garrus he had walked into.

"It's good to see you have not changed in the slightest Sheppard. You're still like a dumb animal, just walking until you hit something." Garrus announced. He looked at Sheppard, and his eyes traveled to the roses in his hand. Shepard felt heat rush to his face, waiting for garrus to say something sarcastic about the roses. To his surprise, his old friend clasped his shoulder. "I just got done visiting Tali" He began. "She has been waiting for u. She's doing a lot better Shepard; she even stood up when I walked in. and I'm sure she will love the roses, no matter how cheesy they are."

Shepard smiled, glad that Garrus saw his unease, and relaxed his shoulders. "Am I that easy to read?"

Garrus chuckled again. "Sadly yes. I've known you for a long time, so I know that you don't have much experience with women. Yet here you are. You almost lost her a month ago; it would be just cruel for me to give you a hard time after that."

Shepard nodded in agreement. "I'm glad you made it Garrus; I don't know what I'd do without you."

Garrus grunted. "You would be dead with you head hanging on some idiots wall most likely." And he walked away, chuckling at himself.

Shepard stood shook his head, smiling, and walked through the door. Garrus was easily his closest friend, and he was glad Garrus made it through with very few injuries. Shepard walked through a few more doors until he came to her room. He took a deep breath, hid the roses behind his back, and opened the electronic door, making almost no noise as it slid apart.

Tali was sitting on the bed, seeming to gaze at the wall. She had a different bodysuit on, since her usual one was ruined when she was hit by the reapers beam. When he walked in, she stood up, which was a very good sign; she was almost fully recovered. "Shepard!" She said, her cute voice making him smile. She walked over to him and was about to hug him when she saw his left hand behind his back. "What do you have there?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

He shrugged. "Oh I don't know….take a guess." He said, teasing.

She crossed her arms. "Oh come on Shepard." When she saw that wasn't working, she placed her hands on his chest and tilted her head again. "Pllleeasssssee?"

He pretended to think about it, even though she had already won, then smiled. "Well, since you said please." And revealed the roses to her.

She gasped, gently taking them from his hand. "Oh Shepard, they are beautiful!" With that, she embraced him, squeezing him very tightly for someone who was supposed to still be recovering. He smiled, relieved. He had no idea what he would have done if she had not liked them. He hugged her back gently, not wanted to hurt her, but also not wanting to let her go. After a few seconds they separated, and she quickly put the roses on a table next to her hospital bed. She then sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to her.

He sat next to her and took her hands, feeling the material of her suit against his skin. "How are you feeling Tal? It's good to see you walking." He accidently called her Tal a few days ago, and the nickname stuck like glue.

"I feel amazing today" she said, probably beaming under her mask. "I don't feel sick at all, and the pain is down to a dull throbbing. Not completely used to this new suit yet, but they did a good job on it."

He nodded. "They did. I'm glad you're feeling better. Did the doctor say you're free to leave yet?"

She shook her head, squeezing his hands. "No. Keelah, he wants me to wait 3 more days! I've been cramped in here for far 2 long already. I want to get out, stretch my legs, and see how everyone is doing!"

He smiled at her enthusiasm. "Well, the doctors probably know best…" As she turned to protest, he leaned in very close, his face an inch away from her mask, stopping her in her tracks. He leaned his forehead against her mask, and even though she became shy, she didn't back away. "…But I was thinking I could sneak you out of here and walk around, you know, kind of like a date."

They stayed like that for a moment, and then she slowly pulled away. "I…would like that Shepard."

Sneaking out was easier than Tali thought it would be as they walked among the stalls, holding hands. She needed this, as she was getting restless in that room. It's bad enough to be confined to a suit all her life, to also be confined to a small room? It was too much. Shepard must have sensed this, because it seemed he had planned to take her out already. She gazed up at him, seeing his bright blue eyes as he looked at the merchandise. She could never get over how lucky she was; to think that she would be dating Commander Shepard. But she did not care for his title. She cared for him, John Shepard, and would have fallen for him even if he wasn't the famed hero he is. She was just surprised he liked her back. She would most likely never be able to escape this suit, and he could not even see her face, yet he still looked at her like she was the most beautiful being in the universe, and it still gave her what humans called 'butterflies' in her stomach. She was always nervous and shy around him, but she was also happy; happier than she had ever been.

They walked until she started to feel tired, then they sat in the grass and gazed at the sky. He put his arm around her and pulled her close, making her blush. They stayed like that for awhile before she finally spoke up.

"Shepard, thank you. This is the perfect date."

He scoffed. "Perfect? Not by far. Once we get everything up and running, and we are both fully recovered, ill take you to the most beautiful places on earth Tal."

She giggled. "It does not matter that we are not in the most beautiful place. It's perfect because you are here."

To her surprise, he didn't respond, and when she looked up she gasped. "Are you blushing Shepard?"

He quickly turned away. "Who, me?" But she gently put her hand on his face and turned him to face her, and sure enough he was blushing. She giggled, and he looked away, embarrassed. One advantage she had over him is that she could see his face all the time, so he couldn't hide stuff like that from her.

"You're cute Shepard"

He grunted. "Shush" and she laughed. He gave her a questioning look, then smiled and chuckled as well.

Not long after they stopped laughing, they heard someone else laughing behind them. They turned to see James laughing at them. Shepard stood up, helping Tali up as well. She hated needing help, but she was still weak. They walked over and Shepard shook his hand. "James! What brings you out here?"

James was still chuckling. "Sorry to interrupt your romantic scene here, But I was sent here to tell you that you have a message marked urgent for you, from Aria.

She heard Shepard sigh and couldn't blame him. Aria T'Loak was a powerful Asari who ran Omega. She had lost it to Cerberus, but got it back after a lot of fighting. If she wanted Shepard, it meant trouble.

James held out a tablet, and Shepard took it. He read the message, paused then read it again. She bit her lip, feeling anxious for a reason she could not explain. He didn't say anything for a few moments, and then handed the tablet back to James. "Seems that she has trouble. After driving Cerberus out of Omega, she got cocky, and didn't expect any disturbances. A few days ago Omega got attacked by an unknown force. It seemed to be a mercenary group, with less numbers than her, so she didn't take it seriously, sending a small group to take care of it. That was her mistake. Even though they had less numbers, they seem better trained; they slaughtered the group she sent and went on the offensive, nearly reaching her. She escaped, but they are relentless, and she is requesting my help."

Tali started shaking her head. "We just got done with a war and you have not fully recovered. She put herself into this position; let her get herself out of it."

James nodded in agreement. "She's right commander. This isn't our problem. We helped her get Omega back, which should be enough."

Shepard didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then replied, "Even though I agree with both of you, I have to think about this. I might not be particularly fond of Aria, but she has run Omega and not started trouble, mostly. We don't know who this new group is. What if they win, and aren't satisfied with just Omega? This could turn ugly fast." He paused, seeming lost in thought. "…I don't know, but it isn't something we can just shrug off. I'll think about it."

James shrugged. "Hey, you know I'm always down for a fight commander. If you do decide to go, let me know so I can join you. I'll leave you 2 alone now, sorry if I ruined the mood."

Tali shook her head. "It's not a problem James. Nice seeing you again." He nodded and walked away.

She turned to Shepard, who was still thinking. "I still think you should let it be, at least for now, but you are the commander. I leave it up to you."

He looked at her, his blue eyes looking into hers. "Thank you Tal and I appreciate your concern." He then noticed how much she was leaning on him. "I think it's about time to take you back. I don't want you to over do it."

She nodded and, holding on to his harm, they walked back to the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Shepard lay in his bed, deep in thought. He wished Tali could be there with him, but the doctors gave him an earful when they caught them sneaking back in, and made it clear she wasn't ready yet. He couldn't disagree; she was very weak and needed his support to get to her bed, falling asleep within minutes. He stayed there for a few hours, even fell asleep himself until he was woken up and told it was time to leave. Tali was definitely in no condition to go anywhere, let alone fight off professional mercs. But he knew that if he went, she would want to come as well.

Was he even up to the task? He had not even heard James come up behind them, and he is usually very aware of his surroundings. Was Tali right? Should he let this one go? He had never been good at that. Anytime there was trouble, he was always quick to act, usually without thinking. He had already died once, and then came very close to death. He really would be pushing his luck by going and fighting an enemy who was giving even Aria trouble. But what if he was correct? What if this new mercenary group became an uprising power and started causing trouble? The galaxy had enough trouble to last a lifetime, and every race was spent. They had put everything towards this war, and didn't need a new power attacking them.

He sighed. He was thinking too much, and it was starting to give him a headache. He had enough problems for 1 day. He decided he would figure it out tomorrow, and went to sleep.

He woke up to a loud knocking at his door. He groaned, rolling over and sitting up. Sore, as usual, but he thankfully didn't have the nightmare, and got plenty of sleep. "Just a minute!" He yelled, putting on some sweats for the time being. He looked at the time, and saw that it was almost 12; he slept in. probably making up for the lack of sleep the night before.

He got to the door and almost opened it, but old habits die hard, and he looked at a small screen on the wall to see who it was. It was Garrus. He gladly opened the door.

"Hello Shepard, you lazy oaf." Garrus said. "You sure had a good long sleep. Mind if I come in?"

Shepard nodded, to lazy to come up with a comeback, and lead the Turian to his small kitchen, where he sat at the table. Shepard started coffee and sat at the table, gesturing Garrus to speak.

"Well Shepard, as I'm sure you know by now, our lovely friend Aria is having trouble. What you don't know is who is attacking her, correct?"

Shepard nodded.

"Well."Garrus continued, "I do. I did a little digging, and figured out that the group attacking her is called The Burning Locusts. Now the group itself is a fine group, very well trained, but normally wouldn't be a problem for Aria, who has superior numbers. It's their leader who is giving Aria problems." He handed Shepard a data pad. "His name is Davin Kecker. Odd name."

Shepard raised an eyebrow and started going through his file. Everything was normal until he came across something. "He used to work for the Alliance?"

"Yes." Garrus answered. "He was a commander, like your self. According to his files, he was brilliant. He had many successful missions, with a low casualty count. But one mission he walked into a trap, and had his legs blown off."

Shepard flinched. "Never how a soldier wants to go. I'm guessing he was honorably discharged?"

"Correct. But he had come from a wealthy family, and they had him get bionic legs. Not only has he made a full recovery, he's even faster and more dangerous with his new bionic legs. Very high tech. But the Alliance wouldn't take him back, even with his new legs, so he went and started a mercenary group."

Shepard grew impatient. "Get to the point Garrus. What does this have to do with me?"

The Turian grew quiet for a moment, then continued. "A few months before the reaper attack something changed. He was just a merc leader, recruiting people and training them. Then he just decides to start attacking other groups. At first it was just pirates and bandits, but it slowly grew to bigger and bigger groups, and his mercenary group also grew. Something made him want to start killing instead of recruiting. And now of all times he attacks Omega. He is very skilled, and very dangerous. What if he decides he has a grudge on the Alliance? What if he just keeps getting bigger and stronger until he rivals us in military strength? This could be a problem."

Shepard said nothing. Garrus had just damn near confirmed his fears. Now he had to decide; either let it go, or stop them.

"Whatever you decide," Garrus said, pulling him from his thoughts. "I'm with you. My gun is always yours, Shepard."

Shepard nodded, and made his decision. "Garrus, get the whole group together, whoever isn't too injured to fight. Have them meet here in 2 hours, ready head out."

Garrus nodded, and then said "What about Tali?"

 _Damn it._ Shepard had forgotten about her for the moment. "I'll have to let her know I'm leaving. She's not recovered enough to come with us, so I'll-"

"You're going to tell her she can't come with us?" Garrus interrupted to ask. Shepard nodded, then nearly jumped as Garrus laughed, getting up. "Tell me how that works out." With that, he walked out, leaving Shepard confused.

"What do you mean I can't come with?" Tali demanded, crossing her arms and most likely putting on the most stubborn face ever. Shepard figured out pretty quickly what Garrus meant. The instant he even suggested it, she got furious.

"Your not ready yet Tal." He said, crossing his arms and assuming what Ashley called his 'Commander' position when he was not around. "You got weak from just walking with me yesterday. You don't need to go into the middle of a gun-"

"So what if I was a little weak yesterday?" Tali asked loudly. "I can at least come along on the ship and help from there. I can help!"

Shepard shook his head. "And what if the ship gets attacked? I might not be there to defend you, and-"

"I'm not some helpless child! I might be a little weak, but I can defend myself Shepard!"

Shepard was getting frustrated."I never said you were, but these aren't regular mercs. They are basically soldiers! I don't want you getting hu-"

"I'm coming with!" Tali said.

"Will you stop being stubborn? I said no." Shepard said, and Tali pushed past him, saying "Bosh'tet!" and stormed off.

He sighed heavily, frustrated. Why did she not understand? He almost lost her, and he didn't want to risk her getting injured or killed. But he hated seeing her so mad, and she had plenty of energy to push him aside…was he doing this just because he loved her? He contemplated it. Then he realized he was being unfair. If it had been Garrus or Liara, he would have had no problems with them coming along on the ship. He slapped his forehead. This was his fault. He was the cause of their first argument. He had to go find her.

He found Garrus and Ashley waiting outside the hospital. "Did it go as you thought it would?" Garrus asked with a smile on his face.

Shepard sighed. "No, it went the exact opposite. She stormed out and called me a bosh'tet."

Garrus laughed, while Ashley put her hand on his shoulder. "You have to understand, you 2 are in a relationship. You can't approach topics as the commander. That won't work."

Shepard blinked at her. "Do I really go commander on you guys?"

They both nodded.

"Damn. I didn't mean too. I just…want her safe, you know. Is that bad?"

Ashley shook her head. "It isn't, but you can't treat her different because of it. You love her, but remember that she is still Tali. Her favorite weapon isn't a shotgun for no reason."

Shepard mulled it over, and then gave in. "Alright. Tell me where she went, and I'll meet you guys at my apartment."

Garrus simply pointed in a direction and Shepard headed towards it.

After he left, Ashley turned to Garrus. "You're right. He is pretty clueless."

Garrus chuckled. "Yes. As you humans say, he's like a dog chasing a vehicle. He has no idea what to do now that he has actually caught it."

Shepard found her easily enough; she was the only Quarian around, and there was only 1 placed she could go. He slowly walked back to the spot where they sat the day before, seeing her sitting with her back to him. He sat down besides her, and they sat there in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"I'm sorry." Tali said at the same time.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and then they both laughed a little at each other. She reached over and took his hand.

"I'm sorry I called you a Bosh'tet."

"I'm sorry I went commander on you."

She looked at him. "Went commander on me? You must have been talking to Garrus if you heard that term." She giggled.

He smiled. "I was wrong to tell you not to come. Just try to understand Tal…Before I made it to the Citadel, I saw you dying on the ground. The image is burned into my mind. I had lost all thought of living after that. The only reason I pushed on was to save everyone else…not myself."

She squeezed his hand. "Keelah…I didn't know. I'm sorry you had to see me like that Shepard. It must have been horrible." He looked away, but she yanked his face back to hers. "But I am still me Shepard. I survived. And I do not plan on leaving you for a long time."

He put his hand over hers. "You are a tough one Tal. You're right; I just didn't want to lose you. But I promise to try and treat you exactly like everyone else."

She scoffed at him. "I hope you don't treat me _exactly_ like everyone else Shepard. That would be no fun." He couldn't see her face, but he would bet 1000 credits that she winked.

He laughed, feeling so relieved. "Well, you know what I meant Tal." He laid his forehead against her mask again. "Ready to go?"

"Yes. Let's go help Aria" She replied, no hesitation.

The sound of gunfire filled the air. Shepard saw the 2 opposing sides dug in, trying to find a weakness in the other. He saw a soldier stick his head up to shoot, and saw his head burst into pieces as a bullet tore through it. His body crumpled to the floor, lifeless, and Shepard went into commander mode; poker face and no emotions. They are not needed in a battle field.

He turned around to Aria. "From what I see, your mercenaries are getting torn apart. I see why you called me here."

Aria glared at him. "You are very perceptive _Commander Shepard._ Yes they are getting torn apart dammit! You find it funny to mock me?"

Shepard glared right back. "Nothing is funny about this. You have connections, why didn't you use them? Why let these slaughters continue?"

She paced back and forth, looking more agitated then he had ever seen her. "I can't! I just got Omega back from Cerberus. It would make me look pathetic to beg for assistance already. If my reputation is ruined, I'm ruined. I need this taken care of without military help. That's why I called you Shepard. Now are you going to stand their and talk me to death, or go out there and kick their asses?"

Shepard gave her a cold stare, and then called his squad together. Garrus, Tali, Ashley, James, and Edi. Liara had gone back to Thessia to assist in its recovery. But he had enough people. "Tali, I want you to stay on the ship and analyze the entire time. This is a big group who is dug in and spread out, so I want to know if they try any flanking maneuvers.

"Yes commander." Tali responded.

"Garrus, get to a higher vantage point. Any of them dare stick their head up, remove it for them."

"Gladly commander." Garrus replied, taking his sniper rifle and heading out.

"As for the rest of us, we will split into 2 groups. Edi and Ashley, You hit their right side. James and I will take the left side. Try to wedge them together; I don't want them too spread out. Are we clear?"

"Yes commander!" They replied in unison, making him smile. He went to Tali and laid his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it.

"Good luck." She said softly.

He nodded, and then they headed out.

Garrus wasn't joking when he said they were well trained. They never spooked, never faltered, and attacked aggressively. But Shepard wasn't known for nothing, and they slowly started moving forward. Shepard lifted his assault rifle and shot from behind cover. His aim wasn't to hit someone, because he was shooting blindly; his goal was to make someone duck behind cover, which usually makes someone else pop out from cover to fire, giving Garrus and James a chance to hit them. James and he took turns firing blindly and then shooting whoever pops up. It worked for awhile, and he dropped a few himself. He even saw a few heads pop, and heard Garrus cheer.

But they caught on to it, and changed their strategy. Half of the front line would fire, then they would go into cover and the other half would fire, and they made sure to have a couple of soldiers aim at Garrus to keep him at bay. In response, James tossed a grenade, and Shepard followed suit. They ran from cover, and were picked off by Garrus and the remaining mercs on Aria's side, letting them push forward and wedge them in the middle.

Just as it looked like the end for the enemy, Shepard heard 3 consecutive shots, and saw 3 mercs on Aria's side drop dead. He looked and behind and saw their leader.

He was pretty tall, at least 6'7. He had short black hair and ocean blue eyes, but his eyes were cold and very soldier like. He had only 2 weapons; a pistol, and to Shepards surprise a sword at his hip. It looked like a samurai sword, from ancient times, yet it also looked different, as if made from alien material. Why would a soldier use a long sword in this day and age?

He got his answer as Davin Kecker switched the pistol to his left hand and drew his sword. It made a soft sliding sound as it exited the sheath, and then Davin went into action. Shepard saw why Garrus said he was dangerous. He moved so fast he was a blur, and he was at their cover in seconds. The mercs shot at him, but he suddenly veered off to the left and, surprising Shepard again, he jumped. He flew 10 feet and instead of face planting the wall, he somehow turned his body to where his feet landed on the wall, and then leapt off, flying behind their cover with ease. He swung his sword out and, using his momentum, cut the merc cleanly in half. He landed, rolling onto his feet quickly, and striking like a snake, cutting down 2 more mercs. His sword had to be made from a metal not on earth, to cut through their armor so easily.

Shepard reacted, swinging around and firing at Davin. Davin jumped to the left, flying at least 10 feet. Shepard followed him, but just wasn't as fast, and Davin disappeared behind the cover put up.

Shepard got up to follow him, but then Tali's voice rang in his ear. 'Shepard! He is going to-chhchhhhh" She cut off and all he heard was static. "Tali, do you read me?" He yelled, pressing on the communicator in his ear. "Commander, we have to get this bastard!" James yelled, and Shepard nodded, heading after Davin carefully.

He got to the cover Davin disappeared behind and whipped around it, swinging his gun back and forth but finding no one. Shepard searched around, confused. Where could he have gone? What was Tali trying to tell him?

He was about to turn around and head back when he saw Tali running towards them. He was actually shocked speechless. What the hell was she doing?

"Shepard!" She yelled, sprinting as fast as she could. "He went around! He's behind you!"

Shepard and James whipped around, seeing Davin. Davin swung his sword, knocking James gun out of his hands, then he rammed James with his shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Shepard fired, but Davin ducked just in time, using his free hand to push Shepard's gun to the side, swinging his sword. Shepard moved to the right, and felt the sword skim off of his armor. Before he could react, Davin kicked Shepard in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He got up as fast as he could, and turned to see Davin's sword fall towards him.

He thought that was the end for him, but he felt himself being pushed to the side, and watched in horror as the sword hit Tali instead. She fell, and Davin stood there, looking completely shocked. Shepard roared, whipping out his pistol at his side and firing. This time he hit Davin, and Davin fell.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Shepard dropped his gun, hearing it clatter against the ground as he knelt down next to Tali, gently picking her up and turning her over. When he saw the wound, he just sat there, staring, trying to work out what he was seeing.

There was no deep gash he was suspecting, no gash at all. There was a hole, where it seems the tip of the sword pierced her right on her ribs, but then only a scratch continued downward, nothing even reaching her skin. He was at a lost for words. He saw Davin strike her, and since it was meant for him, it was a good strong strike. It was fast though, and he was being pushed aside when it happened. Did he somehow miss something?

He heard a groan, and turned to see Davin moving, trying to get up on his elbows. Shepard gently laid Tali down, who was also stirring, and got up. He walked over, picked up his pistol, and walked over to Davin, aiming the gun at his forehead, ready to finish it.

"Wait Shepard!" Garrus yelled just as Shepard was putting pressure on the trigger, making him stop. But he kept the pressure he already had on his trigger as he looked up at Garrus. "What do you mean wait? Have you lost your mind?"

Garrus finally reached him, laying his hand on Shepard's gun. "You should already know that I am by now. But don't kill him."

Shepard just blinked at him, dumbfounded again. "Why the hell should I let him live? He was trying to kill us a few seconds ago, and he even struck Tali." Shepard saw James walk up out of the corner of his eye, keeping his eye on Davin, who was clutching his side.

"He wasn't aiming for her; she jumped in front of you. And he was only reacting to us killing his men, of course he struck back. Stop for a second Shepard. He is a very capable soldier. Why not let him live, and give him a second chance?"

Shepard was so confused by his friend's words that he moved his pistol away from Davin's head. "Why? What's gotten into you? Did you hit your head or something on your way here? We came to stop him and his mercenaries."

"Exactly, stop, not kill. We have accomplished that. His group has ceased fire and you have taken Davin down. There is no need to kill him."

Shepard was about to argue when he was interrupted. "Shepard, listen to Garrus." He turned and saw Tali standing again, hand over her wound. He was relieved to see her ok, but agitated as well. Why was she taking Garruses side?

"Why Tal? And are you ok?"

She nodded. "I'm fine Shepard. Shepard, if he had wanted to kill me, he could have. It was fast, so fast I don't know how he did it, but when he saw that I jumped in the way, he turned his blade so that only the side would hit me. He tried not to hit me at all."

Shepard didn't say anything, mulling it over.

"Finish it Commander Shepard."

Shepard looked down, surprised to see that it was Davin himself that had spoken. Shepard was just getting more confused by the second.

"You want to die Davin?"

Davin shook his head. "Of course not. But you are my enemy, and I accidently struck someone who was not involved. You have defeated me, and I have shamed myself. End it."

Shepard looked into his eyes, and saw no deceit, only honesty. Shepard holstered his gun, and offered his hand.

"No mercenary would worry about shaming himself or hitting someone innocent. Killing you now would basically be murder."

Davin looked like he felt; confused. But he took his hand anyway, letting Shepard pull him to his feet and groaning at the bullet in his side. Shepards aim was off, probably because of what happened to Tali.

Davin stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. "I…don't know what to say. When I came into battle and saw that you were fighting us, I was sure this was my last battle. I did not expect this."

Shepard chuckled. "Neither did I. But once Tali joined in, I had lost. Impossible to argue with that woman."

Tali scoffed, and Garrus chuckled. Davin even smiled. "I know what you mean. Well, I do know this; you have defeated me. I will tell my soldiers that we are surrendering." He spit. "If I had known Aria could call you to her aid, I would have never assaulted here…at least not this early."

Before Shepard could respond, he heard footsteps. He turned to see the rest of the Burning Locusts approaching them, weapons aimed at Shepard. They quickly formed a half-circle around the small group, very professional like. They were completely caught off guard, but he saw Edi and Ashley creep up behind the mercs, waiting for his signal to attack. But Davin beat him to it.

"Soldiers! Stand down!"

They looked confused, but they all lowered their guns in unison. Shepard gestured at Edi and Ashley, and they also lowered their guns, the same expression on their faces. Davin walked towards his team.

"We gave it a good run men, that we did. But once Commander Shepard joined the fray, we were doomed to lose. I've decided to surrender and spare our lives. I know it isn't something id usually do, but-"

"But sir!" one soldier interrupted, a Turian. "What do you mean? We have them surrounded, and they are defenseless!"

Davin shook his head. "Look behind you soldier."

They all turned and a few jumped, obviously not knowing Edi and Ashley were there. Edi smiled and Ashley waved at them.

"As I said, we have been defeated. Second in command, Garth, step forward!"

A Krogan stepped forward, a scar across his eye and wielding a shotgun, to no ones surprise.

"Yes Commander Kecker."

Davin walked to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I trained you guys well, and you have become a fine soldier. I am handing my command of the Burning Locusts to you, Garth."

The Krogans eyes grew wide. "But what will you do sir?"

Davin looked back at Shepard, and Shepard already guessed what he was going to say before he even said it. "If Commander Shepard will allow it, I will go under his command. Wherever he goes, trouble seems to follow, and it sounds like the place I need to be."

 _Today is just full of surprises._ Shepard thought as he sighed. "I don't see why not. You're a fine soldier, and I have a feeling this isn't the last problem I'm going to have. Now that the reaper threat is gone, the galaxy can go back to hating and trying to kill each other. I'm going to have my hands full most likely. Just don't try to kill me, and NEVER strike my girlfriend again."

Everyone chuckled, and Davin grinned. "Noted." He was silent for a moment, and then said, "Now, if it isn't too much trouble, can I get some medi-gel or something? I was only shot, so no rush or anything."

"How are you holding up?" Shepard asked, grabbing hold of Tali's hand. They were back on the Normandy, and he had both Tali and Davin taken to the medical wing to be looked at. It was at moments like this that he wished Mordin was alive, and it made him a little sad. But he shook it off and went to the medical wing. No use dwelling on the past.

Aria had been none too pleased to learn that Shepard let Davin live, but once he made it clear he wasn't changing his mind and that Omega was hers again, she dropped it and headed off, without even a thank you. It was nothing new, and he wasn't even fazed by it.

"I'm fine Shepard. You worry too much." She answered, squeezing his hand. "It was a minor wound, and ill probably get a small fever from it, nothing too bad."

He sighed in relief, smiling. "I'm glad. I should be pissed that you left the ship when you promised not too, but as long as you're ok I'll let it go."

She giggled. "Please, you know you can't stay mad at me Shepard."

He squeezed her hand, smiling. "No, not really."

"You guys know I'm here as well right?" Davin said, reminding them. "If you could leave the gooey stuff for later, I'd appreciate it. Makes me miss my wife."

Shepard looked over and saw Dr. Karin leaning over Davin, looking at the bullet wound. "A wife huh. What is her name?"

Davin looked like he wasn't going to answer, but said "Her name was Vara'vas White Hawk.

Tali gasped. "She is a Quarian!"

He nodded, smiling. But Shepard saw that the smile didn't reach his eyes. It was a sad smile. "Correction, she _was._ But yes, she was a Quarian. A damn good Quarian."

Tali squeezed Shepards hand again. "I'm sorry to hear that. It's so amazing to see any other species with a Quarian. Most species look down on us as a lesser species."

He could hear old anger in her voice as she said it. She almost lost her life because a clerk, instead of believing her, called her a suit rat and threatened to throw her out. That was the day he first met her, and he was pretty sure she would never forget it.

To his surprise, He saw Davin's eyes darken. "My wife was one of the most amazing people I have ever meant, with more courage and kindness than any other species. If anyone ever insults a quarian on front of me, I'll rip their throat out."

They sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds, and then Davin hissed as Dr. Karin pulled the remains of Shepard's bullet out of him, letting it platter in a tray. "There, that's taken care of." She announced. "Just some stitches and you'll be as good as new."

Davin growled his response, breaking the ice and causing all of them to laugh. Shepard heard the door open and saw Garrus walk in.

"Garrus, anything new?" Shepard asked.

"Why, now that you ask, yes." Garrus replied. "Admiral Hackett requests you speak with him. Says it's about Cerberus."

He shook his head. He was getting tired of Cerberus already. He had killed the Illusive Man and destroyed all of their bases, yet they still found a way to annoy him. He got up, squeezing Tali's hand one more time before heading out with Garrus.

"Cerberus again huh. Seems there is no end to them." Shepard said as they walked towards the com room. Garrus nodded in agreement. "It would seem like that, but from what I was informed, these are the last surviving members of Cerberus. Admiral Hackett will fill you in on the details, but I'm pretty sure this is the last mission we will have against them."

Shepard nodded as they reached the com room. He walked up and tapped on the hologram control panel, making an image of General Hackett appear. He looked the same as he always did; old, sturdy, and a soldier to the core.

Shepard saluted. "General Hackett. I heard you wanted to speak to me?"

Hackett returned the salute, and they lowered their arms. "Yes, Commander Shepard. I know it's early, but I have a mission for you. We have tracked what is left of Cerberus to a small base on a planet in the Annos Basin. It was well hidden, but we tracked one of their shuttles to find it. There are only a handful of them left, yet they continue to resist instead of surrendering. I remember how much trouble they gave you during the time you were recruiting for the war, so I wanted to see if you wanted to help either change their minds about surrendering, or finish them off if that is no longer an option.

Shepard mulled it over. "I appreciate the offer, but it doesn't really seem like I am needed. Is there something you're not telling me general?"

Hackett laughed. "Perceptive as ever commander. It isn't exactly me keeping information from you, but Cerberus is desperate, and they had gotten a lot of knowledge out of the horrible tests they ran with Reaper technology. We do not know what surprises are in store, so I wanted to send some more experienced soldiers to make sure nothing goes wrong, and you are on the top of my list."

Shepard thought it over, and nodded. Why not? Cerberus had already proven to be a threat to the entire galaxy, and if there was any way Shepard could help stop them, he would assist. "You have my support general. I'll help you end Cerberus once and for all."

Hackett smiled. "I'll send you the coordinates. I feel much better with you helping out commander. Hackett out" and with that his image disappeared.

Shepard stretched, yawning. He didn't realize how tired he was until now. His soreness was starting to settle, so he decided this would be as good as time as any to take a nap until they got to the Cerberus base. He walked into the main room with the galaxy map and spotted Specialist Traynor. "Ah Traynor, I was just looking for you. General Hackett is going to send you some coordinates. Give them to Joker. We have another mission to do already it seems."

She smiled, always optimistic. "Yes commander. Glad we survived to get another mission."

He couldn't help but smile back. "And I'm glad you decided to stay with the Normandy. You helped me a lot during the war. I won't forget that Traynor."

She responded by beaming and went back to work. He walked into the elevator, pushing the top floor button and leaning against the wall.

A hot shower and his soft bed sounded amazing right now.

Tali played with her hands nervously, sitting on Shepard's bed. She had been here a few times before, but she never got used to it. Her heart raced every time she set foot in here, and she always felt anxious. It was the fact that it was Shepard's personal room, and it would be just them. She blushed as she remembered the last time she was here. It was before the assault on the Illusive Man's base, and she had found Shepard sitting on the bed where she was now, holding his face. She could easily see how much the war was affecting him; he didn't have a mask to hide behind like she did. She comforted him and spent the night. He was gentle as he always was, never pushing it farther than what she allowed. As a result, they had not gone all the way yet, and even the thought of having sex made her face get hot. But she was thinking of changing that tonight. Because of her wound, Dr. Karin had pumped her full of drugs and antibiotics. Her immune system had actually improved from the first two times she had spent the night with Shepard, and she did not even get a fever like she thought she would. So, since she her immune system had already improved and she had been given antibiotics, she decided now was the perfect time to try it. She kept being reminded of how fragile life is, and she could lose him at any moment. So why wait?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost fell off of the bed when she heard the elevator reach this floor, announcing "Arrived at floor one" loudly. She tried to regain her composure, but her face started getting hot again. Will he be upset that she is here? No, Keelah he had never been angry before. Will he see how flustered she was? Even though she had her mask on still, she acted completely different in his room than she did in public. She was still shy, but she wasn't as nervous when she was with him out in the open. She was finally getting used to him. But she wasn't used to them alone yet.

She had no more time to think as the door opened and he entered the room. He looked tired, and didn't notice her until he got to his bed. He saw her and stopped, rubbing his eyes as if he thought he was seeing things. It actually made her giggle, almost making her forget how nervous she was.

"Tal? What are you doing here? Is it ok for you to be up here? What did Dr. Karin say-"she interrupted him by placing a finger on his lips. She was still blushing, but for some reason she felt very bold suddenly, either from how flustered he from her being here, or from the drugs, she did not know. But she was going to do this before she lost this confidence.

"I'm fine Shepard. The wound is already taken care of, and thanks to Dr. Karin, I did not even get sick. My immune system is strong right now, and I was feeling lonely…so, I decided to…come up here." _Dammit._ She was already losing her confidence and getting nervous again. Keelah, why couldn't she just act normal? He must find her weird or odd.

But, surprising her as he always did, he laughed. He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer, making her face get hot again and making her feel lightheaded. _Oh Keelah._

"I'm actually glad. I was going to send you a message after I took a shower, asking if you wanted to come up, but you beat me to it." He smiled and gave her a very seductive look, making her lose all thought completely. "Now what am I to do with you Tal?"

She tried to unscramble her thoughts to think of a response. Was it getting hotter in here, or was it just her? She almost freaked out, but she made herself calm down. She placed her hands on his chest and said, "I…can think of a few things you can do with me…"

He laughed. "God, you're too cute Tali. But are you sure?"

She was zoning out looking at him and almost didn't hear the question. When she did, she fumbled for an answer. "Why, of c-course I'm sure. I wouldn't be up here if I wasn't. Why, am I giving off an unsure vibe? I can try-"He cut her off by pulling unlatching the ports connected to her mask and gently lifting it off.

She was bombarded by all the scents in the room at once, making her feel dizzy, and even the low lighting made her squint her eyes until they adjusted. She probably would have fallen over, had Shepard not had a firm grip of her hips, keeping her upright. After she recovered, she notice one scent different than the rest; Shepards. He gave off a musky, masculine scent that was driving her insane.

She looked up at his face, no mask obscuring her vision in the slightest, and couldn't find any words to say. Turns out she needed no words, as he slowly leaned in and kissed her. She felt like electricity ran throughout her face when his lips met hers, and she lost all thought again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him as close as possible, wanting more. He complied, sliding his tongue across her lips, giving her tingles, and sliding it into her mouth. She was shy at first, and then got more comfortable, sliding her tongue along his. As their tongues danced, she started pulling at his shirt, wanting it off. He broke off to laugh and help her, lifting his shirt over his head and throwing it to the side. She admired his body, running her hands slowly down his chest along every muscle. She felt herself getting turned on, and started getting warm in a place besides her face. She gently pushed on his chest, making him sit down. He grinned, raising an eyebrow at her.

She smiled back. All nervousness gone, she slowly started unlatching and unzipping her suit, until she could slowly peel it off. She took all of it off until she was naked. She felt the cold air hit her skin and nipples, giving her goose bumps and making her nipples hard. She shivered, forgetting how cold it was outside of her suit, until she saw Shepard. It was his turn to admire her body, and he did not waste the chance, looking her up and down slowly, his eyes saying what his body wanted to do. She started to blush, and then she saw a bump in his pants start growing, making her blush twice as hard.

He pulled her on top of him and started exploring her body, sliding his hands slowly up her thighs and stomach, traveling up her ribs to her breasts, sending electricity throughout her entire body. He gently rubbed her breasts, and it was all she could do not to moan and even his slight touch. When he squeezed them, she could not hold back any longer, moaning softly, feeling her hips automatically move and grind against his cock, which had grown considerably hard. When he started gently rubbing her nipples, she moaned much loader, scratching his chest hard, barely being able to hold back, and feeling herself get wet.

He then surprised her by rolling her over onto her back. She lay there, panting and still feeling tingles throughout her body even though he had stopped touching her. He stood up and pushed his pants down, revealing his upright member, and got back on top of her. Just the act of him getting on top of her made her get hot all over again, and she pulled his mouth to hers, biting his lip and pushing her tongue into his mouth. He replied in kind, playing with her tongue as he slowly rubbed her breasts. Then his hand started sliding slowly down her body, following the curve of her hips to her thighs. He gently pushed between them and started rubbing her clit. She moaned loudly into his mouth, grabbing him and grinding back against his fingers. She felt so much electricity and pleasure from this that she didn't think it would get any better, and he proved her wrong by sliding two fingers slowly inside of her. She arched her back, scratching his back hard and pulling her lips away from his, moaning very loudly as he slowly pushed his fingers in and out if her. The pleasure from this was so much, she didn't know if she could handle it. Then he goes and makes it better by kissing down her neck to lick and nibble on her nipples at the same time, making her experience pleasure until she stiffened against his fingers, reaching her climax.

She lay back again, panting, her entire body tingling with pleasure. Then he moved her legs and got in between them. He looked at her, smiling, and asked one last time, "Are you positive Tal?"

She could only nod in response and bite her lip.

She must have looked seductive, because he grinned and gripped her shoulders. She grabbed his arms hard as he slowly pushed his hard cock inside of her, making her scream. She didn't think he was going to fit all of the way at first, but he slowly thrusted it all of the way in, giving her pain and pleasure she had never felt before. He started to slowly thrust his cock in and out of her, and the pain lessened, being replaced by pure pleasure. He started going faster, making her bite his shoulder hard to muffle her scream as she grinded along with him, feeling as if her entire body was vibrating with pleasure as they kept going faster and faster until they both came, making her scream in pleasure.

"Oh John." She managed to say as he pulled out of her. She felt more tired than she had in her entire life. He lay besides her, panting as well, and she snuggled up to him, the happiest Quarian in the world at the moment, and fell asleep.

:


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!" Shepard roared, and James ducked down just in time as a barrage of bullets flew at where his head would have been. Shepard popped up and fired, hitting a soldier in the chest and watching him drop.

Shepard had to give the surviving Cerberus group credit, they had no quit in them. They were out numbered and out gunned, but they held on stubbornly, digging in and fighting with everything they had. What was supposed to be a quick clean-up had turned into an hour battle, but he could tell they were getting tired. They were either going to give in or die fighting, and even though Shepard wasn't fond of them, he didn't really want to slaughter them all right here. But why didn't they surrender? Why fight to this extent? What are they fighting for?

Tali answered his question for him. She sprinted over to his cover while James provided cover fire. She slid down besides him just as they returned fire. He smiled. He glad to see she was finally recovered.

"Commander Shepard! I've noticed something. When we arrived, most of the group massed in front of the doors to that room. We didn't notice it because it isn't the main hall, but There must be something important there if they are defending it with this much aggression."

He peeked out from behind cover, and saw she was right; there was a door on the wall behind them. If there was something important enough to lose their lives for behind that door, he wanted to see what it was. He pressed the communication device in his ear.

"Attention! They are defending a room. I don't know what is in it, but we are going to remedy that. This had gone on long enough; let's end this now and see what was worth them losing their lives for!"

"Yes commander!" He heard in his ear, and he popped up, throwing a grenade and ducking back behind cover. He heard a loud bang as it went off, and he popped up again, shooting down anyone who ran from cover. He dropped 3, hitting the last 1 in the throat. The soldier fell, clutching his neck as blood spewed from it and gurgling until he became still.

Shepard had been correct; they were tired, and after a few minutes there was 5 left. Shepard was about to throw another grenade when he saw them throw their guns to the side and stand up, hands in the air. He stood up form behind cover but kept his rifle aimed at them, just in case they tried something funny. He stood there with his gun trained on them until some alliance soldiers came over and took them; searching them for additional weapons and marching them back to the shuttles. Shepard lowered his gun, glad they finally decided to surrender. He walked to the door they were protecting and waited for the rest of his squad, analyzing the door. There was nothing special about it what so ever. If they had not defended it so fiercely, he might have just walked past it, letting the alliance take the time to search it. But now he was curious.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Tali. He smiled, placing his hand over hers, and turned to see everyone else arrive at the door. They stood there in silence for almost a minute.

"It's….a very normal door." Garrus announced obviously. James chuckled, but Shepard wasn't amused. Whatever was behind this door was worth dying for, and he had a bad feeling he wasn't going to like what he found.

"We would have walked past this door and forgotten all about it. What were they thinking? They basically painted a big target on it." Ashley said.

That caused Shepard to rethink about it. She was right, it didn't make sense. If you didn't want your enemy to get into that room, why make it obvious you have something to hide there. It's as if…

"It is as if they wanted us to go into this room." Edi said, echoing his thoughts perfectly. They stood there for a few more moments, then Shepard said, "Well let's get this over with" and opened the door.

It was dark at first, but the lights quickly turned on as they walked in. "Guns hot, we don't know if there are any soldiers in here or not. Be on your guard." Shepard announced.

They all nodded, and went walked in, forming two lines. At first, nothing stuck out. But as more lights came on, Shepard starting seeing things he did not like; pieces of reaper equipment in pods, among other random items he could not describe. He looked around, trying to piece together what it all meant, when Tali gasped.

"Oh Keelah, Shepard, this is where they stored all the data and information they had. All the information on the reapers, on all other species, on the alliance…This is where they stored it all. No wonder they didn't want us in here. They have info on everyone here."

Shepard stayed quiet. While it seemed she was right, there was more to it. Everyone already knew they had this information. There was something else, something they were missing. As they walked through the room, Tali and Davin started looking through the consoles, looking at the information stored within them.

"Keelah, they had information on the entire Turian government, from how they are trained to how they patrol. They even have military strategies that the Turians have used and how to counter them."

Garrus grunted in disgust. "Bastards. Makes me wish those last few didn't surrender."

"Keep your head clear, Garrus." Shepard said. "If there are any left in here, you can gladly take them out." He seemed satisfied with that.

They all turned quickly at a banging sound. They saw it came from Davin, who was bent over a console, and even though Shepard couldn't see his face, he could tell he was pissed.

"What is it Davin?" Shepard asked, walking over to him. He got to him and saw he was correct; Davin was pissed.

"Those…bastards. They had it all along. For months I've been searching for this, and Cerberus had it the entire time."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, but laid his hand on Davin's shoulder. "Searching for what?"

Davin turned to look at him, rage all over his face. "My wife's research. Unlike most Quarians, who spent there time researching the Geth and how to counter them, She spent all of her time researching on how to boost the Quarians immune system permanently. She was so close! When she was killed, I came to get the data, but her computers had been wiped clean, and all of her assistants had conveniently disappeared. To think it was here this entire time…" He was silent for a moment, then stood up and started tapping on his omni-tool. After a few seconds Shepard heard a beep. "There." Davin said. "I have it back. Don't worry about me commander, I'll be fine. Let's continue."

Shepard nodded and continued onward, seeing Tali squeeze Davin's shoulder. They didn't find anything too interesting until they came to the end of the long room. At the end was a tinted pod, big enough to fit a human in it. They couldn't see what was inside, but it was isolated and the only tinted one. Shepard got a bad feeling; this was what he was looking for.

"Edi, see if you can clear the glass so we can see what is inside." She nodded and went to the console next to it, typing a few keys. They heard a hissing sound, and the glass slowly cleared, revealing the horror within.

"Holy shit." James managed to say, and Shepard could only agree with him. Inside was what appeared to be a tall, bald human, but with a few differences, the main one being that he was completely purple. He had tubes throughout his body, going under his skin, and Shepard only saw a few connected outside, the rest stayed inside of him. He was a giant, at least 7'5, with broad shoulders and a wide chin. His face was pretty normal, except that he had a few bumps on his head, probably something else under his skin.

"Ok, what the fuck is that?" James said. Edi of course responded. "From what my scans read, it is an organic life from combined with synthetics. I detect reaper tech inside of him, and I also detect that it is alive, though in a coma like state."

Shepard looked at it/him in awe. Alive? He didn't like this, not one bit. This is what they were protecting, and with good reason. He didn't know what that reason was, but this time he didn't want to find out. "Edi, if there is anyway to put it down do it. I don't know what it is or what it is for, but it can't be any good. Kill it."

"NO!" a voice yelled behind them. They all whipped around, aiming there guns at a man in a scientist clothes. There was a Cerberus sigil on it. He must have been hiding in the lab when they entered. Shepard saw he was unarmed and was about to lower his gun until he saw something that horrified him; the scientist had his hand on a lever on the wall. They had over looked it, and Shepard knew it was to the purple man they had just uncovered.

"Put your hands in the air and get on your knees, now. I won't ask twice." Shepard said.

The scientist shook his head. "I can't let you kill him. I worked too hard to have you throw it all away. I WON'T LET YOU!"

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR NOW!" Shepard yelled, and the scientist responded by pulling the lever.

Shepard heard Garrus fire, and saw the scientist's head explode, some of it actually hitting Shepard on his armor, and saw the body drop, but it was too late. Alarms went off all around, making everyone jump and start looking around. Shepard spun back around to the purple man, and his blood ran cold.

The purple man had opened his eyes, which were also purple, and was staring straight at him.

Shepard heard a very loud hissing sound as the cover to the pod opened, steam floating into the air as it lowered. The purple man reached up and started disconnecting all of the tubes, until he could step forward. He slowly looked at all of them, aiming their guns at his head, and showed no worry as he stepped down from the pod.

Shepard hated when his bad feelings were proven correct. The purple man started looking around at his surroundings, pretending they weren't even there.

Shepard stepped forward. "Hey, can you hear me? Do you have a name?"

At first he didn't think the purple man heard him, but just as he was about to ask again the man whipped his head towards Shepard, surprising him.

"Yes I can hear you. I have no name, so I guess you can call me Ultimate."

His voice was slow, but not mechanical. He continued. "From what data I have, you must be Commander Shepard of the Alliance. Since none of the Cerberus soldiers are here, I will assume you have either killed them, or taken them into custody."

Shepard was at a lost of words. He just woke up and already knew all of that? It must be the synthetics he was combined with. "You are correct. May I ask, what were you made for?"

Ultimate's stare was cold and calculating. "Cerberus made me as a last resort in case complete control of the reapers was impossible. I was made as a last fighting chance. They hoped that I would either be able to control the reapers myself, or destroy them."

Now Shepard was just dumbfounded. "They think you are powerful enough to destroy a reaper?"

He nodded. "They did. But they were missing the final component to have control over me themselves, so they did not activate me."

Shepard did not like where this was heading. "So, now that you are awake, what are you going to do?"

Ultimate looked at his hand and didn't respond for a moment, then fixed his icy gaze on Shepard and said "With the reapers destroyed, I am now the most powerful being in the galaxy. I will assume control, and I will execute any who defy me."

The instant he said that, Shepard fired and his squad followed suit. He watched in amazement as their bullets never reached him; they veered off in all different directions, hitting the walls and consoles everywhere. He stopped, seeing no point in wasting bullets, and saw a small barrier encasing Ultimate, the same color as his eyes and skin. A few consoles exploded, but Shepard barely heard them; he only saw a new threat to the galaxy before him, one that so far seemed untouchable.

Ultimate smiled, and Shepard knew they were in trouble. Before they could react, Ultimate waved his hand. What looked like a wave of energy hit them, knocking them all back and onto the ground. Shepard landed hard with a thud, feeling lightheaded and as if a Krogan had charged him at full speed.

"Resistance is futile." Ultimate said, walking past them as they struggled to get back to their feet. "None of your meager weapons can harm me"

Garrus was the first to his feet, followed by Davin. Garrus responded to his comment by aiming his rifle and firing his entire clip. As before, they veered off, but this time one bullet veered sharply right, hitting James in the thigh as he was getting up. He yelled in pain, clutching his thigh and falling back to the floor.

"Don't shoot! He can control the trajectory of the bullets!" Shepard yelled, getting back onto his feet as well.

Ultimate smiled at him. "Good observation Shepard. I see why Cerberus saw you as a threat. But you are no threat to me. You-"He stopped talking as Davin charged at him full speed, using his bionic legs and swinging his sword.

It connected with the barrier, and instead of veering off like the bullets did, the sword was repelled straight backwards, sending Davin back with it. But when Davin's sword hit the barrier, Shepard noticed that unlike the bullets, which simply veered off, the sword actually seemed to cave the barrier in a small amount before being repelled. It wasn't much, but Shepard took note of it anyway.

Davin landed on his feet and charged again, this time jumping to a wall and charging off of it, trying to see if hitting him from behind produced different results. His sword hit the barrier again, and was once again repelled. But this time Davin didn't land; he stayed in the air, as if being levitated. Ultimate turned towards him, smile gone.

"I told you resistance is futile, yet you still insist on attacking. Very well, I shall return the favor." Ashley and Garrus charged him at the same time. Ultimate responded by swinging his hand, which made Davin fly sideways into Garrus and Ashley, knocking then down. Then Ultimate swung his hand again, flinging Davin hard into the wall. Davin fell to the ground with a thump, sword flying from his hand and clattering on the floor five feet away.

Tali charged next, taking the knife from her boot and trying to stab him. She was repelled just like Davin was, but she didn't bend the barrier like Davin did, so Shepard guessed that it needed a lot more force. Ultimate turned to look at Tali, and Shepard roared, charging and swinging at him with his omni-tool blade. He hit the barrier, and was repelled like everyone else. He hit the ground and rolled back to his feet, but it seemed Ultimate had had enough with them. Ultimate raised his hand, and swung it down. Shepard was hit by what felt like the ceiling falling on him, and was pushed to the ground. The weight stayed there, and as he struggled to move his head, he saw everyone was in the same position.

"Although I admire your courage and willpower, they will get you no where. I will keep you like this until I leave." And with that he just walked off. Shepard roared and tried to reach for his pistol, but it was useless; it felt like gravity had been multiplied by ten. They could only sit there, feeling like they were being crushed, until Ultimate exited the room, and the weight suddenly lifted. They laid there for a minute, panting, trying to recover. Then Shepard put two fingers to his ear.

"Calling all Alliance ships. Cerberus has created a new weapon in human form. He has just exited the room I went in too investigate. Express extreme caution; he has powers that you do not understand. Attack from a distance and hit with everything you have; missiles, bullets, everything. He needs to be stopped now!"

He coughed and rolled over, slowly getting to his feet. He saw Ashley, Garrus, and Edi do the same, but Tali, James, and Davin had not. Tali was sitting up, checking her suit for any problems. James was holding his leg to stop the bleeding, cussing up a storm and Davin was just starting to stir, groaning with pain.

"Edi, give James a medi-gel to stop the bleeding. Garrus and Ashley, help Davin up and see if he has any serious injuries." They nodded and went to work. Shepard went over to Tali and kneeled down.

"Is everything alright? No broken bones or anything?"

Tali scoffed. "My bones are stronger than yours, Shepard, so if you don't have any fractures, I won't." Her voice softened. "I'm fine Shepard. My suit is intact. Running a small fever from earlier, but no damage from Ultimate. But what about you?"

He smiled, glad she was ok, and held out his hand. "I've had worse. It'll take more than a barrier and hand signs to take me down." She laughed and took his hand, letting him help her up. He looked around. James was on his feet, leaning on Edi for support. Garrus and Ashley had gotten Davin to a sitting position. He had a nasty gash on his head, which was bleeding heavily, but seemed conscious enough to look pissed about being beaten so easily.

Just then Shepard heard multiple explosions and gunfire. It seemed they had found Ultimate and taken his advice, hitting him with all of their fire power. He just hoped it was enough.

Shepard walked over to Davin. "How you holding up?"

Davin grunted. "Besides this damn gash on my head, I'm fine. Just a lot of bruises. Head wounds just bleed to damn much." He shook his head, sending droplets of blood everywhere and causing Ashley to curse. "That bastard kicked our asses. What are we going to do about him commander?"

"Right now, nothing." Shepard replied. "Let's hope he has a harder time deflecting missiles than he did bullets. By ourselves, we can't defeat him. We need to find a weakness in that barrier"

All of a sudden the explosions stopped, leaving an ominous silence in its wake. Shepard waited until he was contacted.

"Commander Shepard….I regret to inform you that we failed to bring down the weapon. Nothing seemed to even touch him, and he disappeared. I don't know if he actually went somewhere, or just camouflaged himself, but we failed to stop him. What the hell is that commander?"

Shepard didn't respond right away. "I don't know general. But it is a threat to us all."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

Tali found Shepard with the guys in the lounge. They were drinking and barely talking, trying to forget that they failed to contain a threat to the galaxy. The room had an awkward mood, and Tali didn't know weather she should try to comfort him, or give him space. Her mind was telling her to leave him be, but her heart was telling her that her mind was stupid, and to go over there. While she was debating to herself, Davin noticed her and decided for her.

"Tallliii!" He yelled out. Out of all of them, he had obviously drunk the most, and was very intoxicated. "Why are you hiding over there? Get over here! Your man needs you!"

She could feel herself blushing, but now that Shepard knew she was here, she wouldn't just leave him there. She walked over to the mini bar they had on the Normandy and sat next to Shepard. He looked up when she sat, and gave her a small smile. She grabbed his hand. "Hey John. You ok?"

He gave her a questioning look. "Do I look so bad that you used my first name? It's rare to hear you call me John." His cheeks were red, so he had drank a little bit, but not enough to lift his mood it seems. She was about to apologize when he squeezed her hand. "I wouldn't mind if you called me John more."

She blushed again, not expecting him to say that. "W-well if that's what you want, I'd have no problem calling you John more. I never even thought of using your first name, I'm so used to calling-" She had started ranting, something she always did whenever she was nervous or caught off guard. Shepard raised his hand, making her stop mid-sentence.

"Relax Tal. I wasn't saying you had too." He sighed, and she could see how stressed he was. It was like he had a weight on his shoulders. "I'm just…mad at myself Tal. We were powerless against Ultimate. He brushed us aside as if we were annoying children that needed a time out. I, Commander Shepard, was completely defeated without landing a single blow on my enemy. I can't fail like that! Everyone is relying on me."

She listened to him, and when he was done she laid her head on his shoulder, squeezing his hand. "You can't be so hard on yourself John. Keelah, you saved the galaxy! You deserved a long break, not to be thrown back into the fray when you had barely recovered. The galaxy needs to cut you some slack; even you are not perfect. We were all there with you, and none of us could do anything. He was just too powerful. But this isn't the end. You have faced worse odds before, and still came out on top. We will find a weakness to this 'Ultimate' guy, and you will end him just like every other enemy that has dared oppose you."

By the time she had finished, he was

smiling at her. "There you go, killing my depressed mood. Have I ever told you that you are an amazing woman Tal?"

She blushed hard, and couldn't even respond. Luckily, Davin came to save her again, putting his arms around her and Shepard. "Hey, lovebirds, I need you to come with me."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at him. "And what do we need to go with you for?"

Davin just grinned like a fool. "It's a surprise. All I'll say is that I went over my wife's research, and found something remarkable. Now come on already!"

Tali looked at Shepard, who shrugged and got up. She got up as well, and they followed Davin, who was walking pretty well for someone who was obviously drunk.

Davin led them to the medical ward, opening the door and letting them walk through first. Shepard noticed a large bag on one of the beds. Davin gestured towards a bed across the room. "Sit down, both of you. I'm about to show you how much of a freaking genius my wife was."

They walked over to the bed and sat down. Shepard hoped Davin wasn't just wasting their time for a stupid prank or something. He wasn't exactly in a good mood.

Davin started rummaging through the bag, talking at the same time. "After we got back to the Normandy and I got my head patched up, I started looking through the data my wife had collected. She was always smart, but what she discovered was amazing. I'm a little upset that she hid this from me, but she was probably waiting until she had enough data to make it official; she often did that." He pulled a large, clear sack out of the bag, and Shepard saw a weird, green crystal looking mass in it. Davin opened it and continued.

"Apparently, she ran into a group of scientist who were exploring various planets for rare or new materials, everything ranging from rocks to new life forms. She was well known, so they always let her look at their finds. When she was going through all of it, she came upon this weird, crystal substance that she had never seen before." He pulled a few of the green crystals out of the bag, putting a few back until he had the amount he seemed to want.

He turned back towards them. "What she discovered was something she never expected to find. She ran a few tests, and the results were even better than she could have ever expected. And, luckily for us, even though Cerberus got her research, I retrieved her bag she hid in her room, where she only put things she considered important." He walked over to them, staggering once but catching himself, reminding them that he was still drunk no matter how well he talked.

He reached the small medical bed and stopped. He simply said, "Tali, take your mask off."

Tali didn't respond right away. "You…want me to take my mask off?"

"That's what I said, right...right? Ya, I'm pretty sure that's what I said. Trust me; it's for a good reason."

Shepard growled. "It better be a damn good reason. Quarians don't go around showing their face to ever-"

"Save it commander." Davin said, stunning Shepard into silence. "I was married to a Quarian for 3 years. I know more about them then you comprehend. I'm drunk, not stupid. Now please take your damn mask off Tali."

Shepard looked at Tali, and she nodded. She undid the latches and pulled the mask off, showing her pretty face and blushing, looking down.

"There, not so hard. You're actually pretty cute Tali." Shepard glared at Davin, and Davin raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "I was just saying, didn't mean anything by it commander. Now, Tali open your mouth."

Tali looked dumbfounded, saying, "What?" And as she opened her mouth to say it, Davin popped the crystals into her mouth with amazing accuracy and covered it with his hand.

Tali started freaking out, and Shepard stood up quickly, about to throttle him, But Davin held up his hand. Shepard hesitated, hoping for Davin's sake that something happened.

Something did happen. Tali resisted at first, trying to remove his hand, then all of a sudden she stopped. Her eyes glazed over, and she slumped down, dropping her hands. Davin removed his hand and stepped back, watching what happened.

"My wife was right; it does take affect rather quickly. I feared that nothing would happen at all, but as usual it was dumb to doubt Vara. She was always right."

Shepard was confused. "What is happening to her? What did those crystals do?"

Davin looked at him, smiling. "Those crystals do 1 thing better than anything else in the galaxy so far; they boost your immune system. Now when I say boost, I don't mean in the general sense like antibiotics or other drugs. These crystals dissolve in your mouth and travel through your blood at an amazing rate of speed, permanently raising your immune system. My wife didn't get to run as many test as she wanted to, but she gathered enough data to prove that it actually works."

Shepard was amazed. A crystal that raised your immune system permanently? Quarians would kill for such a thing. There was only one problem. "Even so, why is she acting like that?"

Tali had laid back and started giggling.

"Ah, I completely forgot about that. There is only 1 side effect to these crystals; it causes the person to take it to feel intoxicated or high. This is one of the reasons my wife didn't go blabbing about it to everyone, and why I only gave Tali a certain amount. While she proved it wasn't hazardous to the person's health, she didn't want to risk taking too much, as she did not know how the body would react to it."

It certainly was hitting Tali; she wouldn't stop giggling. Then she looked at Shepard. "Joohhnnnn, its soooooooo hot! Why is it soooo hot John?"

He glanced at Davin anxiously. "She will be ok right?"

He laughed, and Shepard didn't know weather to be happy with him, or to break his jaw. "She will be fine. It will wear off in a few hours. While it is running through her blood, she will not only feel high, she will be completely immune to damn near everything. As long as she is high, she is at no risk of becoming sick. And when it does wear off, her immune system will have permanently improved, making her less likely to get sick. If my wife's theory is correct, with enough doses, Tali might be able to live her life completely without the suit."

Shepard could not believe it; they could be looking at the answer to the Quarians last question. She felt Tali tug on his shirt, making him look down at her.

"John, how are you not hot? It's so hot in here! You-you should take your clothes off Shepard. Yes, you should do that." She went into a giggling fit. "You must be the reason it is so damn hot!"

Shepard chuckled to himself, and turned to say something to Davin when he saw Davin getting more crystals from the sack. "Davin, what are you doing?"

Davin laughed and nearly fell over. When he regained his composure, he turned to Shepard. "I am curious as to if it works on humans, so I decided I'm going to test it on myself. Bottoms up!" and before Shepard could stop him, Davin popped them into his mouth.

They both stood there for few moments, waiting to see what would happen. Davin seemed to slur it in his mouth. "It dissolves very quickly, and actually tastes amazing. I can't describe it, but I can compare it to-"He had started to walk forward, and it must have taken affect, as he fell face first onto the floor with a load thud and a nasty crunching noise. Shepard guessed that was his nose. Shepard walked over to him, shaking his head and hearing Tali protest "Nooo, don't go awayyy." He knelt next to Davin. Davin seemed to be trying to roll over, and Shepard helped him onto his back, wincing at Davin's face. His nose was definitely broken as blood was slowly dripping from it and it was completely sideways. Davin opened his eyes and looked up at Shepard, not seeming to notice his nose at all.

"Wow, I see why Tali acted like she did; it really hits you. It felt like I went from buzzed to wasted in a few seconds. I feel…amazing. You should try it commander."

Shepard shook his head. "I think I'll pass." He stood up. "Well, I'll let you ride the night out right there Davin. When you sober up, come get me and we will talk about all of this. We have a lot to discuss."

Davin gave him a thumb up and started laughing. Shepard got up, turned around, and his jaw dropped.

Tali had decided that the only way to deal with the heat that only she was feeling was to take her suit off, and had started unlatching her suit. She had just started to pull it off when Shepard had turned around. She looked at him and giggled. "Jooohn, come over here and help me. My suit feels soooo heavy and hot john."

He snapped out of it and ran over there, pushing her suit back up over her shoulders. She pouted in response. "What's wrong john? You don't want to see me naked?"

"It's not that I don't want to see you naked Tal." Shepard started to say, latching her suit back together. "Just not here where not only Davin can see, but anyone can walk in."

Shepard heard Davin say "I wouldn't mind." Shepard glared over his shoulder.

"Shut up."

"Ok." Davin responded, and continued laughing.

Tali continued pouting. "Then we should go to your room. Yes we should. It's toooo hot in here Shepard!" Then she gave him a seductive look. "I want to dance for you, you naughty man."

Shepard blushed heavily, and it took all of his strength not to comply. But she wasn't in her right mind, and it didn't feel right to him.

"Not tonight, Tal. No matter how much I want you too, not while you're like this." Shepard looked at the wall. "Edi! Lock the door to the medical bay. No one is allowed in here for the rest of the night."

"Yes commander."

Shepard sighed and turned to see Tali trying to take her suit off again and Davin still laughing, rolling on the floor.

It's going to be a long night.

"Alright, I need ideas. Where would Ultimate go?"

Silence filled the room. Shepard looked at each person in turn, and got a response from none. Tali was being especially quiet today, making Shepard think that she remembered everything from last night. Davin was holding his head, trying to fight off a hang-over and think at the same time.

Shepard turned to Traynor. "Specialist Traynor, you pick up any suspicious activity lately?"

She shook her head. "Nothing to note. This Ultimate leaves nothing I can trace or follow. I don't know how he is moving around. Once I figure that out, it will be easier to keep track of him."

Shepard nodded. It wasn't looking good. No one could find a trace of Ultimate after he disappeared. It's as if he simply vanished, and it was aggravating Shepard. People don't just disappear. They always leave some clue as to their whereabouts. The hard part was finding that clue, and so far they came up empty.

Tali finally spoke up. "Maybe we are looking at this wrong. Instead of trying to find out where he is, maybe we should try to find out where he is going to be."

Everyone thought about it, and Shepard smiled at her. Finally someone had something he could go on. It was better than what they had 5 seconds ago.

This time Garrus spoke. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty sure he was more set on ruling over us than killing us. You saw his power; he could have killed all of us in there. But he didn't. I think he wants to be, like, the emperor of the galaxy or something. He wants us all to bow to his power."

"I think your right Garrus." Shepard said, and Garrus grunted. "I usually am Shepard."

Everyone laughed a little, easing the tension in the room. "So now the question is where would he attack first if he wanted to take control of the galaxy?" Ashley stated.

No one said anything for almost a minute, and then Davin laughed. "Of course! Why didn't I see it sooner? If I wanted to take over the galaxy, I'd attack the place where the most species are represented and the most powerful people live. There is only 1 place like that."

They all got the answer, and said it at the same time.

"The Citadel."

Shepard pondered the thought, and didn't like it. The Citadel had been hit pretty hard during the war, and he didn't even know if any of the councilors survived. They were recovering slowly. If Ultimate attacked, they wouldn't be able to hold him off at all, and it would be an easy win for Ultimate. They couldn't let that happen.

"Everybody, get your equipment and gear ready. We can't let him take the Citadel. So, that's where we are going. Understood?"

"Yes commander!"


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

 __Shepard tapped his foot against the floor repeatedly, impatient as he waited for Joker to dock. The Citadel had rebuilt fairly well in less then 2 months, making sure to get as much back up and running as they could. The docks had been quickly rebuilt so that ships could bring much needed supplies and equipment. Everything seemed normal so far, so Ultimate had not made his move yet, which improved everyone's mood. But Shepard still felt anxious, knowing that someone who thought that highly of himself would not wait very long. Was he waiting for some reason? Or was he already here, waiting to make his move?

Shepard was pulled from his thoughts by Joker, the pilot of the Normandy and his oldest friend, giving them the ok to enter the Citadel. Shepard opened the door and let everyone go ahead of him, hearing Garrus making fun of James who was still limping a little from the bullet he took to the leg. James shut him up by reminding Garrus that it was his bullet.

Shepard watched as each of his team members, his friends, walked out, glad to be able to leave and stretch their legs. He turned to see if there was anyone left and saw Davin standing there. He was grinning as usual, but it looked like he was hiding something behind his back.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at him. "What is it Davin?" He was still getting used to Davin, who always seemed up beat no matter how bad things seemed to get. Shepard wasn't complaining; they needed someone who never let the situation get them down.

Davin's grin somehow got wider. "It is something that is going to make your day commander. I ran all the tests I could, and they all came back the same. I present the results!" and he moved aside.

Standing behind him was Tali, looking at the ground and blushing. What was amazing was that he could actually see her blushing, as she wasn't wearing her mask. Her head and neck were completely exposed. Her face was almost scarlet by how much she was blushing and she wouldn't look him in the eyes, but he didn't care. He beamed at her and walked over to them.

"You ran the test? You're sure this is ok?

Davin nodded. "I'm positive. Just her face for now, but with another dose, she could go without her body suit, and with a 3rd dose, I'm betting my life that she won't need her suit at all. Now this doesn't mean go crazy. Make sure random strangers don't start touching her face or anything like that. If you need to sneeze, make sure it isn't anywhere near her, and nothing beyond kissing kids." Davin smiled and patted both of their shoulders. "Besides that, she should be good for at least 4 hours. Don't let her overdue it commander. She is going to draw a lot of attention."

Shepard nodded and stepped over to Tali. He gently cupped her chin and raised her face to his, until she had to look him in the eye. Tali's eyes literally glowed, having a purple tint to them. Her forehead was a little longer than a human, but her brown hair was no different, falling past her shoulders.

"You look beautiful Tal. How about we go and see if there is anything to eat?

She smiled, still blushing but looking like she relaxed a little at his words. Shepard took hold of her hands, and led her out of the door.

Shepard stepped off of the Normandy, squinting as the sunlight hit his eyes. When his eyes adjusted, he was surprised to see everyone waiting there. Tali saw them and got shy again, avoiding her eyes.

"What's wrong? What are you all waiting for?"

"Tali and you of course." Ashley answered. Garrus grunted. "Davin said if we waited here, we would see something we had never seen before. He was correct it seems, and no alcohol needed."

Shepard heard laughter and turned to see Davin step next to him. Shepard gave him a cold stare, but let it go. Tali would have to get used to this anyway.

"How is this possible?" Edi asked, stepping forward. "Tali has a very weak immune system. This is hazardous to her health."

Davin nodded. "Normally yes, this would be dangerous for her. But, using the research we find at the Cerberus base, I found out that my wife discovered a certain type of edible crystal that has amazing immune system properties. To make a long story short, I have boosted Tali's immune system permanently. She has to be careful for now, but with a few more doses, she should have a better immune system than even us."

Everyone gawked at Tali, and Garrus chuckled, looking straight at Shepard. "I'm guessing you're glad I stopped you from killing him now, huh commander."

Shepard flicked garrus off, not being able to think of any comebacks. Ashley walked up to Tali. "Tali, you're beautiful! You were hiding this under your mask the entire time?"

Tali blushed even deeper. "Th-thank you. I guess."

"I always wondered what Quarians looked like." James said. "I always thought they had tentacles for mouths, and that the commander was just into that stuff."

Shepard laughed. "Keep it up soldier. At least I can get a woman."

Everyone laughed, including Tali. Then someone pushed past the group to get to the front. "I see you have made a full recovery Shepard."

"Liara!" Shepard replied, walking forward and hugging his Asari friend. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on Illium, helping your people rebuild?"

Liara smiled. "I was, but there wasn't much more I could do at the moment, so I came to the Citadel to help out here instead. They are recovering fast and have a lot of help already, but they took a huge hit during the war, and they can use all the help they can get." Liara looked behind Shepard, spotting Tali and Shepard swore her jaw almost dropped.

"Tali? Is that you?"

Tali, who seemed to finally get over her shyness, smiled and nodded. "Yes Liara. Thanks to our new member here, I am able to take my mask off, and in less than a month I'll be able to finally be free of my suit for good."

Liara beamed and hugged Tali. "I'm so happy to hear that!"

Shepard watched them, smiling, until he was pushed out of the way. Ashley walked to them, grabbed both of their hands, and walked back to Edi. She turned to Shepard, flashing what looked like an evil smile at him. "Now that we are all here, we are going to have some girl time. Don't follow us. Go talk about whose gun is bigger, or whatever else you guys do." And with that they walked off, Tali looking back at Shepard and giggling.

The guys stood there for a few moments, and then shrugged, heading off in a different direction then the girls.

"So, Davin, I see that you are getting pretty close to Tali. Not planning on trying to steal her away from our commander are you? He has a hard enough time getting girls as it is. It would be cruel to take the only 1 he can get away." Garrus said as the men were walking around, looking for signs of Ultimate and being themselves.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, a little curious himself, and Davin chuckled. "Damn Garrus, you caught me. I was so close too!" He laughed again. "No, we are only friends. Not saying I couldn't take her from him if I really wanted to, but she isn't my type."

Shepard shook his head, used to the teasing from them already, and James chuckled. Garrus continued. "Not your type? I thought you were into Quarians?"

Davin looked at Garrus. "Not all Quarians are the same Garrus. I'm not saying Tali isn't cute or anything, but my wife's personality was the exact opposite of Tali's. My wife was very outgoing, not afraid to speak her mind and get into a fight. She was very forward with her opinions, and I never saw her being shy. And she was a pure example of a woman, acting all cute and nice until she got her way. When I met her, she tried charming me into donating 10,000 credits to her."

Now Garrus was interested. "Oh really? And what did you do?"

Davin flashed them an evil smile. "I told her sure, but she would have to work for it. I was very brave back then. She slapped me hard. I told her I was into the freaky stuff. She laughed and I asked her on a date."

Shepard didn't think he heard him right. "You're kidding right? That actually worked?"

Davin nodded. "Yup. I told you, my wife was odd. She had never seriously been flirted with by a non-Quarian, and once she found out I was serious, she grew curious as to why. Hook, line, and sinker."

James laughed, being a human and understanding what Davin said. Garrus just shook his head. "Well now I've heard it all. Davin being a dirt bag to get a woman, Joker dating a cyborg, and Shepard actually getting a girl as well. What had the world come to?"

"I don't see a girl under your arm, Garrus." James retorted.

Garrus laughed. "Why would you? If I have a woman with me, I want her under more than just my arm." Garrus then turned to Shepard. "Speaking of which, I'm damn sure you and Tali have done more than cuddling and playing what you humans call footsies. How did that go? Is she the nerdy type that is a secretly naughty?"

Shepard felt his face get hot. "Sorry Garrus, I don't kiss and tell. Though I won't deny that we have done more, and that it was amazing."

"It must have been." Davin said, chewing on candy that he had bought without Shepard even noticing. "You have a very deep bite mark on your shoulder. I suggest wearing long sleeves if you intend to hide stuff like that, because that shirt is failing at it."

Shepard felt his face get even hotter, covering the spot on his shoulder without realizing it. James whistled. "There you go commander, get you some. So, do Quarians have sharp teeth, or dull teeth?"

Shepard punched him in the shoulder. "I didn't really look at her teeth; I was kinda distracted by the rest of her. But they felt sharper than a human, that's for sure." Then Shepard decided to pick on James. "What about you James? I recall you checking out Ashley a few times. Can't blame ya."

James grinned. "Maybe commander. I don't think she's really into me like that though…"

Garrus clasped his shoulder. "Then get her to notice you. It always helps to, you know; let the girl know you are interested. Ask her out to a gun fight. If you get more kills than her, I'm sure she will be into you then."

James laughed. "Then this is easier than I thought, if all I have to do is get more kills than her."

Davin shook his head. "Not if we go by our last battle with Cerberus, where she killed 3 more Cerberus soldiers than you did."

They all just stared at him. Davin blinked. "What?"

"Sooooooo…" Ashley said. Tali looked at her questioningly, knowing where this was going. "Soooo what?" Tali responded.

"You know what. Shepard. Give us the entire story girl. How is he in bed? Does he know what he is doing, or is he completely clueless? How is he in the 'man' compartment?"

Tali blushed a deep scarlet. Liara smacked Ashley softly on the soldier. "Ashley! Cut her some slack for goddess sake. You don't need to know all of that."

Ashley gave Liara an evil look. "So? And can you honestly say you aren't curious yourself?"

To Tali's surprise, Liara blushed a bit. "Th-that doesn't matter. That is her personal business." Edi remained quiet, smirking at them.

But Ashley didn't give up, and Tali was starting to cave. "I…well, he certainly wasn't clueless…I mean to say, he seemed like he knew what he wanted to do…as for how he was in bed, I think I understand the term…if it means what I think it does…Oh Keelah, I can't even find a good enough word to describe it…" Her entire face was getting hot, and she was getting flustered, thinking about that night. "What else did you ask? Oh, his….size…..yaaaa I have never seen 1 before him, so I don't have anything to compare to, nor do I know how big a human male is supposed to be-"

Edi interrupted her. "The average size of a human male is 6 inches."

They just looked at Edi, surprised. "Why the looks?" She said. "I have access to any information on any species. Something simple like that is no problem for me to find. If it helps, I can tell you about Jeff-"

"I'll stop you right there. We don't need to know about Joker." Ashley said, turning back to Tali, wearing that evil smile again. "So, now that you know, spill it."

Tali played with her hands. They had stopped in the Presidium commons, all of them leaning against the railing, quizzing her. "Oh, right…Well, I didn't exactly get to measure it…But if that is the common size…then…"

Before she could continue, a man walked over to them. He was a human of average height, with short black hair and brown eyes. "Hello ladies, how are you this evening?" He said to them, looking them up and down, but Tali noticed he was looking at her especially.

Tali thought Ashley would be cold, but instead she smiled. "Why, we are doing well. May I ask what you need?"

The man turned to look at Tali, confirming her fears. "Well, when I saw this woman over here, I simply could not look away. I have never seen anyone quite like you before. May I ask what species you are?"

Tali didn't really like him; He looked at her too hungrily. But instead of feeling shy, she oddly felt very confident. "I am a Quarian." She said simply.

"Ah, that is why. I did not know Quarians could go anywhere without their masks on. Well, my Quarian, you have taken my breath away today. Are you free? Can I take you out to eat or something?"

Tali smiled. She could feel her friends watching, waiting to intervene if Tali looked distressed at all. But Tali felt fine. "Sorry, but I am happily taken."

He looked left, then right, then back at her. "Well, I do not see him anywhere. Why don't you lose the zero and come with a hero?"

Ashley laughed, and the guy smiled, thinking he was being smooth. But Tali laughed as well, crossing her arms and saying "Well, that's impossible, since my boyfriend is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy, and more of a hero than you will ever be."

He opened his mouth to respond, then froze as the weight of the words she said sunk in. He stood there for a few seconds awkwardly, then simply turned and walked away while the girls laughed at him.

"Well, I'm glad that is over. Some men are more like pigs than anything else." Ashley said once the man had completely left. Liara and Ashley put their arms around Tali. "You handled that well. Shepard would be proud of you."

Tali beamed, proud of herself. "You really think so?"

"Of course! He would have loved-"

She never got to finish, because something flew out of the sky and crashed, not even 20 feet away from them, causing a huge explosion that knocked them all onto the ground. They got up as quick as they could, being very experienced with explosions and such, and as they did Tali saw what had crashed; a huge pod looking thing. As they were looking at it, it made a hissing noise as it slowly opened like flower pedals in bloom, and people with guns started pouring out of it.

Ashley reacted quickly, running to a table and knocking it on its side for cover, and the rest followed suit, ducking their heads just as the intruders started firing at everything that moved. They were in a bad position; none of them had brought their weapons with them. But they weren't completely powerless. Tali tapped on her omni-tool a few times and her combat drone, which she nicknamed Chatika vas Paus, appeared next to her. She felt the air stir and turned to see Liara's eyes glow as she called forth her biotic powers, ready to use them. Tali said "We need to either get to the Normandy, or find some weapons. Any ideas?"

Ashley spoke up. "We are not far from a C-sec office, which may contain some weapons or some C-sec officers who can point us in the right direction. It's close and with Liara's barrier I think we can make it."

They nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan." Liara said. "I'll put up a barrier in 5 seconds and we will go for it."

Tali turned towards Chatika and said, "Go for the optics Chatika." The combat drone obeyed, floating off just as Liara reached 5 and put up her barrier. They stood up and started moving towards the C-sec office at a slow jog, trying not to distract Liara. They saw the intruding soldiers gunning down innocent civilians and C-sec officers alike. The intruders noticed them and turned to fire, but just then Chatika popped up, hitting one of them in the face with an electric shock. The man fell, and the others started firing at the combat drone, giving Tali and them all the time they needed. As Tali watched, she noticed that all of the soldier's eyes were glowing purple.

Just like Ultimate's.

They got to the office and opened the door, getting inside just as Chatika exploded, probably killing the few soldiers surrounding it. Liara let her barrier down as the door closed, panting slightly but no worse for wear. There were 5 C-sec officers in the office, and they lowered their guns when they realized they weren't trying to kill them. Ashley stepped forward. "I work for Commander Shepard. I need 2 things from you; guns if you have any to spare, and if you have any info on if there are any other areas being attacked."

1 C-sec officer stepped forward, and Tali recognized him as Commander Bailey. "We only have pistols here, but we have enough for you 4. As for info, when that thing landed, it cut us off completely. It must have a jamming device in it. As long as we stay here, getting information is impossible. I highly doubt they just attacked her though." He slammed his fist on a desk as the other officers handed them weapons. "Dammit! They attacked just as I was visiting this office, away from the embassies and the councilors. I need to make contact with them and make sure they are ok, be it by destroying the jamming signal, or hauling ass over there."

Ashley went over to the door. "We will try to take these guys down and destroy the jamming device. You try to head to the councilors at the same time. If we succeed, ill contact you via omni-tool and inform you." Bailey nodded.

"Davin informed me before we left the Normandy to not let Tali overdue it. Even though her immune system has improved, it hasn't met required levels yet. So we can't let blood or anything else that can make her sick touch her skin." Edi said to them.

Tali shook her head. "Do not worry about me. I don't want you guys getting hurt over me. I will take care of myself, and-'

"You are our friend Tali, and we will not allow you to get sick." Liara said, and the other 2 nodded in agreement. "I'm not saying you can't fight, just stay behind us at all times, please. Remember you have a pistol, not a shotgun; no charging them Tali."

Tali opened her mouth to argue, and then realized they were just looking out for her. She nodded instead. She hoped Shepard was ok.

"Ok, on 3 we go back out." Ashley said. They all agreed. Liara and Ashley got by the door. "1, 2, 3!" And Ashley opened it.

Liara threw up her barrier again, providing them cover as they rushed out from the room. The intruders saw them and trained their guns on them. Ashley quickly aimed and fired 3 shots, hitting 3 of them perfectly in the head and dropping them while she dived and rolled behind cover. The intruders trained their guns on Ashley, allowing Tali to exit the room unhindered and aim, firing her gun 5 times. She got 2 headshots, killing them instantly. 2 bullets hit another in the chest, making him crumple to the ground as the last bullet hit a 4rth soldier in the face, tearing half of his cheek off, revealing his teeth and torn flesh. To Tali's horror the soldier didn't even flinch or make a noise. He just started at Tali with his purple eyes and raised his gun at her.

She ducked as fast as she could in order to avoid the bullet, but she didn't need to, as Bailey fired his pistol, hitting the soldier between the eyes and killing him. Tali joined Ashley behind the stall she was using as cover, seeing Liara throw a soldier over the edge of the platform with her biotic powers before her view was cut off.

"Something's off about these soldiers." Tali yelled at Ashley over the gunfire. "I hit 1 in the face, ripping through his cheek, yet he didn't cry out or seem to even notice. Also their eyes are purple!"

Ashley nodded in agreement. "I noticed the eyes. Did you also notice that they are not even attempting to hide behind cover? It's as if they have no fear of getting hit or killed."

Now that she mentioned it, Tali did notice it. "This is Ultimate's doing, I have no doubt about it. Does that mean he is here somewhere?"

Ashley didn't answer right away. Instead, she popped up from cover, firing off a few shots before ducking back down, bullets whizzing by where her head was a second ago. "If he is here, than he is likely near the embassies, trying to get to the councilors."

Tali mulled it over, than replied, "Then that's where we need to go."

Ashley nodded. "Let's just hope we get there in time."

Shepard hit the ground hard, feeling the air leave his lungs. As he tried to regain his breath, the soldier who had hit him walked over and aimed the gun at Shepards head. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Shepard heard a battle cry, and saw Davin kick the soldier dead in his chest hard with his Bionic legs, sending the soldier flying at least 10 feet into other intruders, knocking them down. Davin held his hand out, letting Shepard grasp it and pulling him to his feet.

"Thanks Davin. I owe you 1." Shepard said, getting behind cover. Davin laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, you spared my life back on Omega. Consider us even now." And charged off, killing soldiers left and right with his sword.

Shepard regretted not bringing guns with them. The only 1 who brought a weapon was Davin, who didn't go anywhere without his katana and told off any Officer who tried to tell him he couldn't. James, Garrus, and Shepard himself were completely defenseless unless the enemy soldiers got close enough for them to use their hands, as none of them had bionic legs like Davin. And Davin was starting to tire; they were at the embassies when the pods dropped, and the soldiers just kept coming, wave after wave. Sooner or later Davin was going to get too tired and make a mistake, and most likely be killed. They learned quickly that these intruders felt no fear or pain, which made things twice as hard.

Shepard peeked out from cover, looking for any opportunity to move forward. To his surprise he saw Commander Bailey and 2 C-sec officers being pinned down to his left. Davin was off to his right, trying to reach Bailey but being held off by a line of the soldiers, adapting to Davin's fighting style and forming a circle so he couldn't get behind them.

Bailey saw Shepard and stood up, exposing himself to reach back and toss Shepard a pistol. Bailey took a bullet in the shoulder and fell back behind cover, yelling in pain. Shepard saw it wasn't going to reach him and he jumped from cover, catching the gun before it hit the ground. He rolled to 1 knee, aiming his pistol. He saw 3 soldiers start to aim at him, and he fired the pistol, killing them and painting the ground with their blood. He ran and slid behind more cover just as more started shooting at him.

He waited there a bit, regaining his breath. Now that he had a weapon, he had a chance. But Garrus and James were still weaponless, James still being injured at that. Shepard moved along his cover, which turned out to be a bench, and popped out at the other end. He saw Davin get hit in the arm and jump back behind cover. He saw Garrus pop up on a soldier trying to sneak up on him, picking up the soldier and slamming him head first into the ground, crushing his head like a ripe melon. Shepard saw another soldier aim at Garrus, and Shepard fired at the soldier, 1 bullet taking off his hand and the other taking the top of his head with it. The soldier fell, bits of his skull and brains splattering against the wall. Just as Shepard was going to fire at another soldier, he was hit from the side hard, getting knocked to the ground. Shepard rolled over just as his assailant jumped on him, pinning him to the ground. It was a human girl, her eyes glowing a cold purple as she raised a knife and swung it down, trying to stab him. He dodged to the left, feeling the knife scrape his cheek and cut it. He swung at her face, trying to hit her off of him. But she didn't even feel it, raising the knife again. When she swung it down this time, he caught her wrist, stopping the knife inches above his face. He held her there, trying to push her arms up, but she was stronger than she looked, and the knife slowly moved towards his face. When it was about an inch away and he was getting weak, he saw the muzzle of a gun get put against her head.

"Get your hands off my man, bitch." Tali said, pulling the trigger and blowing the girls brains out. Shepard panted, regaining his breath and getting over his close call with death. Tali knelt next to him. "Are you ok John-I mean commander? No serious injuries?"

Shepard shook his head. "No, just a small cut on the cheek is all." Shepard looked at what remained of the girl that was just trying to kill him. "Remind me not to ever piss you off Tal."

She smirked. "It should be obvious really." Then surprised him by pulling him into a kiss. When they broke apart, she stood up from behind cover, firing off her whole clip and ducking again. "That was because I was worried about you. I leave you alone for less then an hour, and you have some broad trying to have her way with you."

Shepard grinned. "I just have that affect on women." Making Tali scoff. Then she said "I hope you have some thermo clips left, because I am out."

He got up, finding his gun next to the girl's corpse and picking it up. He stood up to fire, but saw he wasn't needed. The main defense force had finally arrived, much better equipped than they were, and started cleaning up. The intruders didn't stand a chance, as they never tried to take cover and were mowed down easily. Shepard sat down and looked at Tali.

"So, how did hanging with the girls go?"


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

"So the attack on the Citadel is due to someone named Ultimate, a human weapon created by Cerberus to combat the reapers. He is immensely powerful and wants to rule over the galaxy. Is that what you are telling me Commander Shepard?" The Asari councilor, Irissa, asked coldly, crossing her arms in disbelief. Irissa and the Turian councilor, Quentius, had escaped before the Citadel had been taken by the Reapers and survived. Shepard wasn't too fond of Irissa, but she wasn't a bad councilor, just skeptical. Quentius had helped him greatly during the war, and Shepard was glad he had survived.

Shepard nodded. "Yes, that is what I am telling you. If you have doubts, contact General Hackett and he will confirm. We deducted that he would make an attempt on the Citadel, and had come here to personally tell you, but the attack commenced when we were on our way-"

Irissa cut him off. "Why didn't you tell us before you came here? You didn't have to tell us in person, commander. You could have saved a lot of lives by letting us know through a message or-"

"Why?" Shepard responded, losing his patience and temper. "He has literally already attacked you, I'm here telling you who did it, and you doubt me. Do you really think a message would have been more effective when there is proof before your eyes and you still are having trouble believing me?"

That silenced the Asari councilor, though she continued to glare at him. Quentius spoke up. "I believe you commander. We have successfully prevented his attack with minimum casualties, thanks to you once again. Now we have an idea who we are up against, something at least to tell the people of the Citadel to comfort them about what happened."

Shepard shook his head. "He isn't done, if that is what you were thinking. This seemed like a trial run in my opinion. These weren't regular soldiers; these soldiers were here either against there will or with his influence. While we were fighting, the soldiers' eyes were purple, just like Ultimate's. Yet afterward, their eyes had gone back to their original colors. This leads me to believe that this was a test run. He somehow got soldiers under his control, and sent them here, most likely testing their capabilities and your defenses. The soldiers also felt no pain and seemed to feel no fear."

No one spoke for a bit, letting what he said sink in. They didn't seem to like what they were hearing, and he didn't like saying it, but it was the truth; the Citadel was in trouble.

"So, you're not only saying that they were made to be painless and fearless, but that this could happen again?"

"It will happen again, and Ultimate will have fixed any problems he saw, so next time the soldiers will be tougher, smarter, and even more aggressive."

The Turian councilor looked very troubled by this, but the Asari councilor scoffed at him. "If this guy is real, then it seems you have no idea what he is capable of. You are guessing Commander Shepard, and I don't like guesses without any merit. How do you know these soldiers didn't feel pain? Did you ask them personally, or-"

"Watch you words councilor." Tali snapped, surprising Shepard and probably everyone there. "We were actually out there fighting them while you hid behind closed doors. I shot one of them in the face, tearing half of it off, and he didn't even flinch. I don't care if you do not believe Commander Shepard, but at least try to show some respect to the man who has saved your ass on multiple occasions."

Irissa gasped, astounded, and even Shepard was amazed. Tali wasn't a confrontational person, and it was rare to see her get pissed. He was speechless, though he kinda liked this side of her.

"How dare you Quarian! Learn your place." Irissa said, looking just as pissed. "Did you really threaten me?"

"Threaten? I have no need to threaten you, councilor. I don't care who you are, this man saved the galaxy, and you will show some respect. If Commander Shepard was to leave you to your own devices and you got attacked, I expect you would change your tune very quickly. You're lucky he is a forgiving person, because if it was up to me I would leave and offer no help. So think about that before you disrespect him again." And with that, Tali turned and walked off. No one said anything, stunned into silence, until Shepard heard Davin chuckle.

"I should have brought popcorn."

Shepard entered the large hotel room they were staying in about an hour later, searching for Tali. The rest of the meeting with the council had been awkward, but he got his point across for them to call all of their forces into the Citadel. Councilor Irissa had even offered to call in a couple squads of Asari commandos to add more security. She didn't accuse him of anything else throughout the rest of the meeting.

Shepard heard Garrus and James talking and walked to them. "I was kinda hoping the Asari councilor would try to fight Tali. I always love a good catfight, and it would be fun to watch Tali pound her face into the floor." Garrus was saying when Shepard got to them. They both simply pointed into the other room, and Shepard nodded his thanks, going in that direction.

He saw Tali sitting on the couch with Liara, talking. Ashley caught him before he went over to her. "She has calmed down quite a bit." Ashley said. "I think she feels bad for what she said. She feels that she made things harder on you."

Shepard smiled. "Then she is in for a surprise." And walked over to the couch. He noticed she had her helmet on, mask and all as he sat next to her. Liara nodded to him and got up, walking away to give them a little privacy.

Shepard put his arm around her, pulling her against him and holding her hand with his other arm. She leaned her head against him, sighing in relief and saying "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "You have no reason to be sorry Tal. You approached it a little roughly, but you spoke the truth, and had every right to get upset. If someone talked to you like that, you can best believe I'm going to react the same way. You defended me." He lowered his voice. "And I honestly found it kinda hot."

This made her giggle. "So they didn't give you a hard time because of me?"

He shook his head again. "Actually, even though it was a little awkward, things went even smoother. Irissa didn't question me again after you left."

She scoffed at him. "She better not have, bitch." Shepard laughed and squeezed her. He heard a cough and turned to see Davin standing there waiting. "I'm sorry Davin; I thought you were looking for popcorn. Is there something you wanted?"

Davin smirked at his remark. "Clever commander. You'll be knocking them dead in no time, with laughter instead of with bullets. I came over because Tali's system has cleared enough for her to take her second dose of the crystals, which I am officially naming Varathin, in honor of my late wife who discovered its properties."

Tali started playing with Shepard's hand. "H-here? In front of everyone? What about…the side effect…" She looked at the ground, probably blushing as she remembered her actions from last time.

"Yes here. Just pretend they are not there. Since you have already taken it once, your body has become more used to it. You will still get high, but it won't be as bad as last time. This dose will be a little bit bigger though, and it'll be almost 2 weeks before you can take your last 1. After this 1, you will be able to walk around with no suit at all for long periods of time. I still suggest being cautious, but you should be fine. Also, I have found a way to separate the chemical that has the immune boosting properties from the crystal itself. It's not very stable as of yet, but I can actually produce an airborne version of Varathin, and pump it through the ventilation in the Normandy. Simply put, you will always be safe aboard the ship, and everyone else will benefit as well, lowering sickness aboard the Normandy by a lot."

Shepard whistled, impressed. "You're pretty smart for a soldier Davin."

Davin blushed a little, scratching his head. "Well let's just say I taught my wife how to shoot a gun, and she taught me a lot about science. I kinda became fascinated with it, and when she passed away I learned more to take over for her. Just seemed horrible to waste all of her research." He pulled out a small bag from his pocket, containing the green crystals called Varathin. "Take your mask off now Tali. I promise not to throw it into your mouth like last time."

Tali hesitated, and then nodded, slowly undoing the latches and pulling her mask off. Davin lifter her hand up and placed the crystals in her palm. He backed away, smiling, and then looking behind them. "Do you guys have to gawk?"

Shepard turned and saw almost everyone crowding behind them, He glared at all of them, but he couldn't make all of them go away. Tali was going to have to put up with it. He turned to Tali, smiling. She nodded, took a deep breath, and popped them into her mouth.

"Have you had any word on Ultimate general?" Shepard asked the hologram of General Hackett. Hackett shook his head. "Nothing. If he is collecting people, he is doing it across many places, never taking too many people from one area as to not raise awareness. He is smart, I'll give him that. But he will slip up sooner or later. When he does, we will hit him hard."

Shepard nodded, not knowing what else to do. "Alright general, contact me if you get any information. Shepard out." Hackett nodded and ended the hologram. Shepard let out a long sigh, frustrated. It had been over a month, and there had been no word or trace from Ultimate. It did not bode well. If Shepard was correct, the longer they took to find him, the more of fight they were going to get. And who knows what else Ultimate was up to. They still did not fully comprehend his powers, and had no idea what he could do. It only stressed him out that they could do nothing but wait until he either slips up, or attacks again. As a result of Ultimate's last attack, Shepard and his team were allowed to carry weapons at all times in the Citadel, and the forces were never far, half of them posted inside the Citadel itself. He thought the civilians would voice complaints against the extra soldiers, but the attack had scared them, and they actually welcomed it instead, making everyone's life a little easier.

Shepard walked through the ship, into the main room with the galaxy map. He had come to contact General Hackett, and wondered what he was going to do now. He had already checked up on the Citadels defenses, as well as their own. He shrugged, deciding to go and relax for once, exiting the Normandy. When he got outside, he found Tali walking up. "John, I was just looking for you." She said, flashing him a brilliant smile. The Varathin had lived up to its name, making Tali no longer need her body suit. She hasn't worn it at all in 2 weeks and no sickness so far. Davin still checks up on her daily, and says he will for a few years, making sure her immune system didn't fail. Finding clothes for Tali was a problem, as none of the females legs were like Tali's. Ashley offered to lend Tali some clothes, and Tali had been forced to wear them for now. She couldn't wear any human pants, so Ashley gave her some t-shirts and shorts. Even though they were roughly the same height, their bodies were not. Ashley's breasts were a bit bigger Than Tali's, so the t-shirts hung a little loosely on her, while Tali had bigger hips and a bigger butt, so the shorts were super tight. It had distracted Shepard on more than one occasion, and to make it worse Tali noticed, so she teased him as much as she possibly could.

Shepard noticed that the longer she went without her suit, the less shy she became. She also tended to get hit on a lot, which annoyed Shepard to no end. One guy, who had been drunk, tried to get touchy with her, and received not only a foot to the nuts from Tali, but Shepard picking him up and throwing him hard out of the hotel.

Tali took his hand, forcing him away from his thoughts. "2 things John." She started. He grunted, nodding. "Liara said she had something important to talk to you about, and Garrus was talking about us all going to the Purgatory to relax a bit, and I agree with him. We need a small vacation."

Shepard nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. Some time off wouldn't hurt. I'll go and see what Liara wants first though." He held out his hand. "Mind joining me, beautiful?"

Tali giggled and took his hand. "Not at all handsome."

They walked through the Citadel, towards the hotel they were staying at. There were soldiers everywhere and from everywhere, ranging from Turians, to Asari, and even a few Salarians. They were patrolling regularly, and had set up cover in strategic areas, so that they would be ready anytime, anywhere. Shepard had helped out as much as he could, giving them advice and even helping them move the small walls into place. They placed them so that they could have cover in any direction, but also so that the civilians could still traverse the area and not have to go around barriers. The civilians didn't seem to mind, and Shepard was proud of them. It only took the threat of extinction to bring people together, but at least they are finally trying to understand each other.

They finally reached the hotel, and Tali bid him farewell, giving him a quick kiss and walking off towards the Purgatory. Shepard smiled and walked into the hotel. Now that Tali wasn't restricted by her body suit, Tali tried to do everything she couldn't do before. She tried multiple different types of food, even eating some spicy food too fast and upchucking. She kissed him every chance she got and more than kissing a few times. She was just so much happier now without her suit that, even with their current situation, he couldn't be down around her.

He had his head in the clouds when he entered the room, and he almost walked straight into Liara. He stopped suddenly, and Liara smiled. "Hello commander. Try to keep your thoughts off of Tali for a little while, as I think I have discovered something very important.

Shepard grinned. "I will if you keep your thoughts off of Davin. What did you find out Liara?"

Liara blushed and walked over to the little computer set up she had, pretending not to hear him, and Shepard laughed, following her. Over the month, Liara and Davin had been talking a lot, and were almost always seen with each other. Shepard hasn't seen them do anything yet, but it was obvious they liked each other, so he gave them as much crap as he possibly could.

Shepard looked at the screens, seeing data that he couldn't comprehend. Liara recovered. "I was analyzing your report on Ultimate and the videos the Alliance sent me, and I have more understanding of Ultimate's barrier. I think it is a form of biotic powers, just altered and boosted immensely. It is just like my biotic powers, but with a few differences. One thing I noticed is that the radius of it is a lot smaller than mine. His barrier only expands about a foot away from him, condensing it and increasing its power in my opinion." She typed a few keys and brought up a picture of him taken from one of the cameras in the room. It showed his barrier clearly, and Shepard saw that she was right. It did not expand very far, not even a spherical shape like most biotic barriers are. It seemed more like an oval shape instead.

She continued. "Also, when you said the Barrier seemed to 'bend' when Davin struck it, I watched the video, and I saw what you were talking about. You are right; it did bend, which is very unusual. I have never seen a biotic barrier bend; it either stops what hits it, or breaks. This makes me think that it is flexible. As to the bullets trajectory changed, I think he is using small magnetized fields to simply move the bullets, as none of them actually even hit the barrier. With Davin's sword, I think it was simply too large for him to move out of the way, so he could not stop it. Which means his control of magnetic fields is small, and anything to large is beyond his control. The most important thing I noticed is that his barrier seems to have electric properties."

Shepard was impressed. Leave it to Liara to find out exactly what he needed to know. "Very good Liara. Now why is the fact that his barrier may be electric important?"

Liara smiled. "Thank you Shepard. It is important because, as anything electrical, it can be overloaded. I think that, if enough of an electric current was to run through the barrier, I think it would be disabled. In simple terms, his barrier will disappear, making him vulnerable."

Shepard grinned and hugged her tightly. "This is exactly what we needed! You're a genius Liara!"

He let her go, and she was smiling as well. "Thank you again Shepard. This guy isn't invincible, and we will take him down."

Shepard nodded. "This helps a lot Liara. We will take him down." He pointed to the door. "Everyone else is at the Purgatory. Are you going to come?"

Liara nodded. "I will, but I have to change. I'll meet you there Shepard."

Shepard nodded again, and headed out, happy to finally receive some good news for once.

"What is taking the girls so long?" James said, leaning against the bar, sipping on a shot. Shepard shrugged, and Garrus said "Probably coming up with a diabolical plan to make us let our guard down and take advantage of us."

Davin laughed. "I don't know about you Garrus, but the rest of us wouldn't mind that."

They all laughed. Joker had joined them this time, taking a few shots already but showing no signs of being drunk. "I don't think you should say us, Garrus, as there isn't a girl coming here for you as far as I know." Joker pointed out

James said "Dammmnnn." Garrus smiled. "I would throw a comeback, but I don't want to break your bones and have you sic your cyborg on me."

"Very original, throw my brittle bones into this." Joker said, and they all chuckled. Davin looked over and almost had his jaw drop. He nudged Shepard and pointed where he was looking. "Guys, our beauties have arrived."

They all turned and were stunned into silence. The ladies sure had arrived, and looked amazing. All of them were wearing dresses, explaining what had taken them so long. Shepard saw Tali, who had a red dress that hugged her body, a tear shape color showing just enough of her breast to make Shepard grin. All of the girls were dressed similar, tight dressed in bright colors. They walked over to the guys; Tali, Liara, Ashley, and Edi all looking amazing.

Shepard easily walked forward to meet them, seeing Davin follow his lead and hoping the other guys would as well. "You all look beautiful tonight." Shepard said as they reached them, making all of them smile. Shepard reached out and took hold of Tali's hand, pulling her over to him. "But you, beautiful, have taken my breath away. Want to dance?"

Tali giggled, leaning in and kissing him. "I would love to dance, though I'm not so sure about you.

Shepard laughed, knowing he can't dance very well. "By myself, you would be right. But even I know how to dance with a woman, and even if I didn't, I would learn to be able to dance with you."

She smiled and held his hand up, leading him to the dance floor. Davin walked up to Liara, saying something that made her laugh and taking her hand, also going to the dance floor. He saw James talking to Ashley, Edi walk over to Joker, and Garrus glare at all of them. Tali reached back, pulling his head around. "How about you focus on me right now?" She said in a soft voice, pulling him closer and dancing against him. He didn't argue with her, grinning and dancing back, losing all thought.

They danced for awhile, everyone having a good time. Shepard even saw Garrus dancing with a girl, though he never got a good look at her. After over an hour of dancing, they all got a table and sat down, drinking and chatting. Shepard was having a good time, but he had a nagging feeling that someone was watching him. He looked around every now and then, but never caught anyone, so he let it slip from his mind.

About 3 hours in Shepard had to relieve his bladder. He got up and excused himself, hearing Garrus and Joker give him crap as he walked away. He walked into the bathroom and saw 1 guy in there, seemingly falling asleep against the wall. Shepard did his business, and was washing his hands when the drunken guy walked up to him.

"Hey sir, are you by chance Commander Shepard?"

Shepard turned towards him. "Yes? Why do you-"He never got to finish, because he felt something hit him over the head, and everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

Tali woke up slowly, her head feeling heavy but thankfully no pain. She groaned and rolled over, using her hand to search for Shepard. When she didn't find him after a few moments, she rolled over, and confirmed he wasn't there. She sat up, confused. She and Shepard have slept in the same room the entire time they were at the Citadel so far, and he had always waited for her to wake up. She never knew why, but she had liked it, hearing him say "Good morning beautiful" and kissing her. This routine had gone on every day.

But he didn't today. That wasn't right, and she tried to remember last night. Her memories were as fuzzy as her head felt. She remembered dancing against Shepard, and blushed a little bit. Then she shook her head, trying to concentrate. She remembered all of them sitting down and drinking. That is where her memory started getting blurry, but she vaguely remembered making it home with everybody and falling on the bed, passing out.

She got up, taking off Shepard's shirt and putting on her burrowed clothes, wishing she had her own. It was nice of Ashley to lend her clothes to wear, but the shorts were way too tight, and even though she enjoyed teasing Shepard, they irritated her hips after wearing them for awhile, her skin still being sensitive.

She walked out of their room, seeing everyone awake already. She must have slept in. They turned when she walked in, and she noticed that they looked worried. That didn't calm her down at all. "What is it?

No one spoke up, making her worried as well. Davin was the one who spoke up. "Commander Shepard is missing. He never made it back last night. No one had seen or heard from him since last night."

Tali shook her head. "How can that be? Shepard wouldn't just disappear on us like that. No one has seen him?" They all shook their heads. They sat there in silence for a minute then Tali took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Well, something is wrong, that's pretty obvious. Standing here isn't going to help anything. We need to go look for him."

Again, they just stood there looking worried. Tali started getting upset. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?"

"Tali, It's almost 3 p.m. While you were sleeping, we already went out and searched for him. We have for hours now and have come up with nothing. It's as if he vanished…" Whenever someone mentioned vanishing, the first person they think of is Ultimate.

Tali slammed her fist against a table, making them jump. "I don't care, I'm going to go out and keep look-"

She was cut off by a loud alarm going off. They all jumped up, surprised. "What does that alarm mean?"

"If I remember correctly, that means unidentified spacecraft in the vicinity…" Garrus said, and then his eyes grew wide.

"Oh shit, Ultimate's decided to attack!"

They all started moving, scrambling to get their guns and gear. Tali didn't have any battle armor made for her yet, so she only was able to get her shotgun, but that was all she needed. If Ultimate did anything to John, her shotgun would speak for her.

They went outside, just in time to see their fears proven as the large pods started landing. Tali noticed there was a lot more than the first time. A lot more pods. They ducked behind the set up barriers just as the first pods landed, shaking the ground. They opened, making the familiar hissing sound. The enemy soldiers started pouring out as all of the Citadel forces opened fire, Tali and the rest joining them. She hit 1 dead in the face, seeing his purple eyes disappear as his face disintegrated into blood and bits of flesh. She got 1 more in the chest, sending him flying. These soldiers were different than the last ones. They moved a lot faster, and half of them had huge shields. The enemies with the shields quickly formed a circle around the other soldiers, basically bringing their own cover with them.

"Dammit, these soldiers are completely different than before." Garrus yelled as the enemy soldiers took turns popping out of cover and firing in turns. "This shield technique is old school, but very effective if done right. This is going to be a hard battle."

"Like hell it is." Tali said, popping up and firing, catching a soldier off guard and dropping him. She ducked back. "We need to break their line. James, throw a grenade. It would be better if it went behind the shields, but either way works. When the grenade goes off, Liara, use your biotic powers to get at least two shields out of the way. How you do it, I will leave up to you. I will fire a few shots to soften them up, then Davin, you run in before they can close formation and do what you do best. Any questions?"

They stayed silent for a moment, staring at her. Then Garrus said "I was totally just thinking that." James yelled "Hell ya!" and threw a grenade. It landed perfectly behind the shields, but a soldier noticed it. He went to pick it up just as it exploded, killing him almost instantly. A few soldiers died, and the formation loosened. Liara stood up and swung her hand, pulling three of the soldiers with shields towards her. Tali popped up, firing her shotgun in quick succession, killing the floating soldiers and a few more. The instant she dropped, Davin rushed into the gap, swinging his katana at the nearest soldier, cutting his head off. Blood spewed out of his neck as the head landed with a thump. The formation completely broke, and everyone opened fire, mowing them down like grass. Everyone cheered as the last soldier fell.

It did not last, as they heard 4 quick shots, and 4 of the Citadel forces fell dead. Tali turned towards the sound and her heart stopped at what she saw.

Commander Shepard stood there, the muzzle of his gun smoking, his now purple eyes fixed on them, showing no emotion. She completely froze as he noticed her and aimed his rifle. "GET DOWN!" James yelled, tackling her to the ground just as Shepard opened fire. James was just in time, and the bullets flew harmlessly over their heads. Tali hit the ground hard, knocking her head against the ground, and she almost blacked out. She forced herself to stay conscious though, and forced herself to sit up, groaning as her head pounded. James put his hand on her soldier. "Are you alright Tali?"

She nodded weakly. He squeezed her shoulder. "Alright, now listen to me. It seems Commander Shepard has been taken control of by the enemy. I need you to be very careful; I know you love him and don't want to hurt him. But he isn't in control of himself right now, and might shoot to kill. We are going to try our best to take him down without killing him and try to break Ultimate's control. If you don't think you can handle it, stay down. If you are not ready to go at him full force, you will die."

She nodded, completely understanding. James roared and jumped up, charging at Shepard. Tali peeked around the end of the cover to watch.

Shepard swung his rifle around to shoot, but a bullet hit it out of his hands, the bullet coming from Garrus. James tried to ram him, but Shepard reacted quickly, ducking low and throwing James over his shoulder. She heard James hit the ground hard, But Shepard didn't have time to do anything else, as Davin leapt at Shepard, throwing a roundhouse kick and catching Shepard in the chest. Shepard fell back, but quickly rolled back into his feet. Davin charged again, but this time Shepard was ready, ducking underneath Davin's kick. They then fought for a bit, Davin swinging fast but Shepard caught every punch. One punch connected with Shepards face, and Shepard caught his hand, hitting Davin in the chest with his free hand. The punch would normally do little danger, but Tali saw Davin jolt and fell back, seeing electricity sparking from Shepards gloves. He had shock gloves.

This time Edi and Garrus ran at him. Edi jumped up to kick at his head while garrus slid down, going for his legs. Shepard reacted almost perfectly, ducking underneath Edi and catching Garrus leg, pulling him closer and delivering a mean elbow to Garrus' face, stunning him, Edi rolled and got back up, but Shepard foresaw this, picking Garrus up and slamming him into Edi, knocking her into the ground. Liara got up and used her biotic powers, throwing Shepard. He landed and rolled back to his feet again, instantly running at her, closing the gap fast. Just as she was about to wave her hand again he got to her, hitting her with his shock gloves, making her crumple to the ground.

Tali jumped out of cover and saw Ashley do the same. They both rushed Shepard, hoping that he was getting tired, but it didn't seem so, as he turned around and met them face on. Ashley threw a fast right hook, but Shepard caught her arm, kneeing her in the stomach and throwing hr aside. Tali swung a left straight, trying to catch him off guard. She nearly did, but he moved his head at the very last second, grabbing her arm and hip tossing her. She hit the ground with a hard thud, feeling the air rush out of her lungs. As she struggled to regain her breath, Shepard picked up his rifle. He walked next to her and put the muzzle to her skull. She closed her eyes, hoping it would be quick.

When nothing happened, she opened her eyes. He was still there, his purple eyes cold and unmoving, but the gun was shaking. She held her breath. He must be fighting Ultimate for control.

"Why do you hesitate?" A familiar slow voice said. Tali turned her head to see Ultimate standing there, arms behind his back, glaring at Shepard. It was the first time she saw him show emotion, and it was good to see him angry; that means something isn't going his way. Shepard's whole arm started shaking, as if it was at war with itself, and Shepard said something, but she didn't catch it.

"What was that?" Ultimate said, walking until he was a foot away from Shepard. Shepard closed his eyes. She saw the rest of the team up, training their guns on Shepard and Ultimate. "Shepard, you are the best commander anyone could ask for and my closest friend, but if you kill Tali I will end you. Fight it!" Garrus said. Everyone was silent, holding their breath and waiting. Tali looked straight at Shepard and said "John, look at me."

Shepard opened his eyes, and she smiled, seeing them their familiar sky blue. Shepard removed his gun from her head and turned towards Ultimate. "I said no." He said.

Ultimate looked pissed. Seems no one else has been able to overturn his control. "How dare you!" Ultimate snapped, stepping into Shepards face. "You can't defy me!"

Shepard stared straight back, his blue eyes looking like they were alive. "I can, and I will defy you with my dying breath!" With that he swung at Ultimate. Ultimate instantly put his barrier up, but when Shepard's gloves hit it, the electricity coursed through the barrier, and to everyone's amazement the barrier flashed and then disappeared. Shepard reacted, raising his gun and firing, but Ultimate reacted just as quickly, vanishing completely. Shepard sprayed the gun left, then right, trying to catch him. They saw blood on the ground, and Tali was surprised to see his blood was actually red. She expected it to be purple like everything else about him. But there was no sign of him,

Shepard dropped the rifle, the gun clattering against the ground as Shepard fell to his knees. Everyone slowly gathered around him with solemn faces. She got to her feet and walked over to him, falling on her knees behind him and wrapping her arms around him. To her surprise he was crying. She squeezed him tightly and held him while he cried, his friends surrounding him.

"Shepard, are you sure you're ok? If you need to rest, we will understand." Ashley said as they all grouped around him in the hotel room. Shepard did feel like shit, but he didn't have time to rest or wait. He wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, the faces of the Citadel soldiers he killed fresh on his mind. He shook his head. "No, I need to talk now. Everyone listen, ok?"

They all nodded, and Tali took his hand, squeezing it. He took a deep breath and spoke. "Ultimate's men ambushed me in the bathroom at the Purgatory. I woke up tied to a chair, and Ultimate took control of me. It wasn't like when the illusive man did it. He looked into my eyes for a few seconds, and then I could not control my body. My body got up when he untied me, but I had no control. All I could do is sway his actions, like when I went onto the battlefield. My body was going to shoot you guys, but I used all my power to sway it, making my body…shoot the other soldiers instead." Shepard looked down when he mentioned that, and Tali squeezed his hand again. It was going to bother him for a long time, but he had to get over it for now. "But there is one good thing that came out of it. I remember everything that happened. I remember where he was hiding out, I remember the faces of people who were there, and most importantly, I remember what his next move is."

Their eyes grew wide. "You remember everything? That's amazing!" Liara said. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Where is he going next?" James asked.

Shepard didn't respond right away, which erased everyone's smiles. James wasn't going to like the answer. He said one word. "Earth."

Everyone was silent except for James. "That son of a bitch! We need to get him and take him down before that happens commander."

Shepard nodded. "I agree. First we need to check the secret base he has. I don't know how he did it, but he gained control of a dreadnought, and is doing all activity from it. It isn't far from here, because when he sent us out in those pods it didn't take long to get here. I remember the general area he said it was in, but not the exact location. I will need to inform General Hackett and have him send a scouting party to find it. Secondly, I need to call in some of our old friends. They are going to want this action, because there is plenty of it."

They nodded. Shepard smiled slightly, glad that he didn't seriously hurt any of his friends. He opened his omni-tool and went over the details with everyone.

"Well I'll be damned. I've never seen a dreadnought like that." James said as they approached the dreadnought Ultimate was hiding in. They were back in the front of the Normandy, which was using its stealth to approach the ship unnoticed. Shepard noticed the dreadnought had no windows and smiled. "Tal, mind telling everyone what kind of dreadnought that is?"

She looked surprised that he asked her, then looked at the ship carefully, coming up with the same conclusion he did. "It's had some modifications…but it's definitely a Geth dreadnought. How he got his hands on one after we destroyed the Geth is beyond me."

Shepard nodded. "And, to our advantage, Geth don't use windows. So he shouldn't be able to sense our approach at all."

"But he will definitely be able to sense when the Alliance Navy gets here." Davin said bluntly, making Shepard look at him. Davin shrugged. "Just saying."

"A little nervous Davin?" Garrus said teasingly, placing a hand on his shoulder. Davin shook his head, but something was definitely different about him; the humor in his eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, soldiers stare. The only time Shepard saw him like this was when they fought the first time they met.

"He's getting serious about this." Shepard said, surprising the others. Davin said nothing; he only nodded. Shepard would have to talk with him about it later, but for now he needed it; they were going to try and end a very powerful enemy with a small army of fearless soldiers who felt no pain. They all needed to be serious about this.

"Commander, the Alliance fleet is hitting the mass relay and will be here very soon. I suggest we board before they get here, so we don't get caught in any cross fire. I still think we should just blow the ship to hell." Joker announced, pressing a few hologram buttons and swiping stuff aside. Shepard nodded. "I know joker, but I need to confirm Ultimate's death. If we just destroy the ship and he escapes, we will be caught completely by surprise next time he attacks."

Joker grunted his agreement and sped the ship up, getting as close as he could. The rest of them suited up, getting everything ready. Ashley was wearing her new Specter armor, so she gave her old armor to Tali, who put on everything that would fit. When everyone was ready, they got into the shuttle and left the Normandy, heading towards the docks of the dreadnought. They didn't see any enemies so far, so they landed.

The instant the hatch opened for them to get out, Shepard looked up and saw the Alliance fleet appear, enough ships to completely destroy the dreadnought if they wanted to. He heard Admiral Hackett buzz into his ear piece.

"Commander Shepard, we are here. I admit, I did not think I would find a dreadnought here. As usual, it's pointless to doubt you; you always pull through. We will make sure it goes nowhere, you have back up, and air support whenever you need it. Just kill that son of a bitch for me, Commander."

"Yes sir. Shepard out." Shepard replied, and they all started to move, forming a circle. They were to wait there until their first round of back up arrived, then storm the ship, find Ultimate, and kill him. It sounded easy, but they all knew it wouldn't be.

As they were waiting, the dreadnought opened fire. The sound of the main cannons firing was immense and the whole ship vibrated, but they kept there circle there. Shepard watched as a small ship broke off from the Alliance fleet and started towards them, narrowly avoiding getting hit by then dreadnought. It finally made it to the dock and sent down a shuttle. It opened, and Shepard smiled as he saw his old friend and comrades step out one by one; Grunt, wielding his shotgun; Jack, smiling when she saw them, holding 2 smgs; Jacob, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder; Miranda, wearing combat armor he had never seen before; Samara, looking exactly the same as the last time he saw her, and a few Alliance soldiers.

They all approached and greetings passed from both groups as fast as they could. "I'm glad you all got my message." Shepard said, smiling. "I was a little worried Grunt wouldn't get it."

Grunt roared with laughter, hitting Shepard's shoulders hard. "But I did! It is good to fight beside you again Shepard. I have heard that this foe is a worthy challenge; let us give them the death they want!"

Shepard laughed, turning to see Miranda and Samara looking Tali over. "My, you're beautiful Tali. I don't know how you aren't wearing your, but you look amazing." Miranda said, and then she turned towards Shepard. "And someone owes me an explanation as to why I wasn't informed of this sooner; this is amazing. Who is responsible?"

Shepard pointed at Davin, who forced himself to smile. "I did, and if you want, I can show you exactly how after this is all over."

Miranda nodded. "I would like that." Shepard looked at everyone, old friends, new friends, the love of his life, and smiled. "You guys ready to kick this guys purple ass?"

They all yelled out, "Yes Commander!" and they marched into the unknown


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

"I want a diamond formation. Not to close to each other; we don't need a stray grenade to kill all of us. I want Davin on point, with Garrus on our flank." Tali heard Shepard say, and they all said "Yes Commander." But Davin, who nodded and went to the front, nothing but his pistol out. Miranda went next to Tali, and as they were going through the docks at a slow jog, Miranda whispered "Usually Shepard takes point. Why is he letting someone with only a pistol lead?"

Tali smiled, remembering that Miranda didn't know Davin yet. "You'll see." Was all she said, and Miranda grunted. They went through the entrance to the ship, being swallowed up by the big dreadnought. The second door opened, and Tali saw 3 humans sitting down, weapons in hand. They all sprang up when they saw the group, and before Tali could react, she heard 3 quick shots from Davin in succession, and all of them fell, dead. Tali smiled as she heard Miranda gasp; she learned why Davin was on point. There was something different about him, Tali was sure of it. But now wasn't the time to bug him about it; they had plenty of time to talk after Ultimate was dead.

They quickly passed the dead enemies and moved towards a consol, where Shepard signaled for them to stop. "Miranda, search that console. It would help if we could get a map of the place, even better if you could find Ultimate's general location. Everyone else, form a circle around her; I don't care if his entire army comes here, I want no bullets to disturb her." They nodded and moved, this time Tali was right next to Davin. She looked over at him. His eyes held no humor like usual; they almost glowed, as if on fire. Davin noticed her, smiled a small smile, and then went back to waiting for enemies.

Tali was about to say something when she heard a sound. She turned to see a door to an elevator open, and enemies pour out, eyes glowing purple. "Enemies on our left!" She yelled. She also heard someone yell "On the right as well" before Davin turned and fired 5 times, dropping 5 enemies. Then the air exploded with bullets.

Tali fired her shotgun, hitting one enemy and taking half of his face off before ducking behind a bench. She waited there until she saw Jack reload both her guns out of the corner of her eye. Tali sprang up, firing her shotgun again and hitting one in the knees. His legs came off completely, and he fell to the ground, making no noise and staring at her. It was so creepy she felt herself shiver, and she shot again, taking his head off before ducking behind cover again, hearing bullets ping off of the metal.

She was going to pop up again when she heard no more shots. She peeked out of cover, and saw they were all dead. She stood up and looked around just as Shepard yelled, "Report! Is everyone ok?" She saw everyone nod. The only injury was Garrus, who had a bullet nick his face and she heard Ashley joke that now both sides of his face were screwed up.

"Found him!" Miranda yelled, making them all turn towards her. She pressed a few buttons, and all of their omni-tools lit up, showing a map of the ship with a red dot in what looked like the lounge.

"Good job as always Miranda." Shepard said, making her smile. "Let's go." She heard Davin said, and they all nodded in agreement. They all went towards an elevator and stuffed themselves in there. As it was going down, Garrus said "This is a horrible position. If we get attacked in here, we are screwed."

She got a little edgy, realizing he was right, but Liara said, "Don't worry; I'll throw up a barrier when the door opens, allowing everyone to leave safely."

"I'll help, just in case there is too many of them." Miranda said, and Tali felt a little safer; as safe as she could, since she never really liked elevators. They arrived at their floor, and both Miranda and Liara threw up a barrier.

But when the doors opened, they saw no one; the room was completely empty. Tali instantly got a sinking feeling in her stomach; something wasn't right. Ultimate had to know they were in his ship by now; there were cameras everywhere, added after he took the ship. She didn't like the look of this at all, but before she could say anything, Shepard, Davin, Garrus, and Grunt pushed their way out of the elevators to the front, as if daring someone to come out.

Nothing happened, and slowly everyone else came out of the elevator. "Am I the only one getting a bad feeling about this?" Tali said, feeling nervous, as if she was being watched. She saw almost all of them nod. Davin was looking around, and Shepard was moving towards the only door she saw in the room. She looked around the room, trying to see anything out of the ordinary. Why did she have this horrible feeling?

She got her answer. The instant Shepard touched the door, a loud alarm went off, and she heard a bang, turning to see that the elevator doors had closed. She then heard a loud click, and assumed that it came from the door in front of them locking.

The only exits to the room had just locked. They were trapped.

They quickly formed a circle, making sure they could see in every direction. She was feeling scared now; they walked blindly into a trap. For awhile nothing happened, and then a very familiar voice came out of no where.

"I applaud you, Shepard; you are one stubborn man. To resist my control then bring the Alliance fleet here. Very brave. But it seems your luck has finally run out. Honestly, I expected a little bit more of a challenge. Instead, you come in here only with your small group, thinking to kill me by your lonesome." Ultimate's voice hit their ears. She looked around, trying to find the source of the voice and failing.

"If you want to kill me so badly, I'll give you the chance." Ultimate said, and without any warning they were all slammed to the ground; it was Ultimate's favorite trick, somehow increasing gravity and making it impossible to move. She hit the ground hard, feeling her lip split on impact. She struggled to move, but it was useless; she felt as if the dreadnought itself was on top of her. This was worse than last time.

Out of the corner of her eye, she finally found Ultimate; He was floating above them. She didn't know he could do that, but he apparently could as he slowly drifted down towards them, 1 hand curled into a fist at his thigh. That's when she noticed it; he did the same thing last time. He has to have 1 hand down, as if he is literally pushing them.

She struggled again, doubling her efforts from last time, and actually succeeded in moving a bit. But she saw Ultimate push his hands lower and the weight increased, until it was getting almost impossible to breath. She was just beginning to lose hope when she saw Davin get up onto is knees. She was confused at first, and then she remembered that he had bionic legs. He slowly raised to one knee, using only the power form his legs. Ultimate turned to him as he rose to his feet. "I see, you have artificial legs. You are the one that gave me problems last time; jumping around like an animal you call a rabbit. This is a saying you should know; the nail that sticks up the most is the first one to get hammered." With that, Ultimate pushed his other hand down. She felt nothing more, but she saw Davin go back down to one knee; He looked like his shoulders would snap any minute. For a second she thought he was going to die, but he surprised everyone by slowly, but surely, getting back up. His face forming a scowl, eyes looking like blue fire, he stepped forward one step. Pain started to show in his face; he wouldn't last much longer.

Turns out he didn't have to. She saw his legs glow a fierce blue like his eyes, and with a roar of victory he did something she did not see coming. He ran forward, legs powering up beyond what she had seen before, and kicked Shepard.

Shepard flew, and after he went about 5, she could see the gravity get lighter. The instant Shepard hit the ground, he rolled, getting to his feet and firing at Ultimate. Ultimate lifted his hand to alter the course of the bullets, and the weight was lifted. She coughed, finally able to breathe again and got to her feet. She saw everyone else had done the same, all glaring at Ultimate.

She saw Davin, barely a blur, rush forward and hit Ultimate's barrier as if he had not just been under all that gravity 5 seconds ago. His sword, which she didn't even see him draw, hit the barrier, and she saw it literally saw it bend as if made of rubber. She thought it was going to break, but at the last second it pushed back out, sending Davin flying. They all went to move, but Ultimate floated straight up. He flung his hand towards Davin, and Davin stopped right before he hit the ground.

"I have grown tired of you." Ultimate said, seething. "You die first." then he flew towards the ceiling, taking Davin with him. She saw a section of the ceiling open, and the both went through it, the section closing behind them.

They all stood there, shocked at what just happened. Shepard was the first to snap out of it. "Edi, get over there and open that door. Davin can't beat Ultimate by himself; if we don't hurry, he will die."

Davin felt the air rush out of him as he was thrown to the ground. He slowly got up, wheezing as he tried to get air back into his lungs. Ultimate just stood there, grinning. "What's wrong, not so full of energy anymore?"

Davin looked at him, feeling no emotion. He had gone into the state he used to go to before he lost his legs, back when he felt no emotion as he killed his enemies. He breathed in, and let it out slowly, calming himself instantly. He then knelt down, feeling along his leg until he found it; a dial that controls how fast electricity moves through his legs. It was pretty simple; turn the dial up, more electricity goes through at a faster rate, his legs move faster. The numbers went up to 10, for 10,000 volts of electricity. He had it at 6, and when he was being forced down by Ultimate, he turned it to 7. By himself as he is now, Ultimate would kill him too quickly. He had least had to hold him off until the others got there. So he did what he promised Vara he would never do.

He turned it all the way to 10.

The instant he did, his artificial legs started humming like an engine ready to show off. He allowed himself a small smile and had only one thought. _Vara, please forgive me for breaking my promise._

He moved. He had had surgery to make his eyes process images at a faster rate, but he moved so fast everything was a blur to him; in a second he was behind Ultimate, who was just turning to look behind him. Davin moved again, ending up on Ultimate's right. It was incredible how fast he was moving, but it came at a cost; His body wasn't made for such speed, and his body was already aching from moving just twice. But he had to at least try. He heard gunfire and yelling from the room over and smiled. Good, they were almost here. He took a breath just as Ultimate realized he wasn't behind him and charged.

"Edi, please tell me you're almost done!" Shepard yelled, firing his rifle and taking down an enemy. They were all at the door, waiting for Edi to get past the lock, when a bunch of sections of the walls moved, dropping soldiers all around them, and everything turned into chaos. They formed a protective circle around Edi, but with no cover and limited ammo, it wasn't looking good for them. To make matters worse, not all of these ones were human; there were Asari and Turians mixed in with them, eyes glowing that evil purple. The Asari were using their barriers as like his team was, and the Turians were attacking fiercely, keeping them pinned. His biotic users, Miranda, Liara, and Samara were getting tired. They wouldn't last much longer.

"Almost there Commander." Edi said, cool headed as always, working away. Shepard turned back to see a soldier shoot at him. It bounced off the barrier, and then the enemy got hit into the chest and collapsed. He heard Tali cheer, and reminded himself not to piss her off. He fired at them, but they had retreated behind their barriers, and his bullets bounced off harmlessly. It was annoying to fight an enemy who used the same strategy as themselves, and it didn't help that they were outnumbered. Then Shepard thought of an idea.

"Garrus, James, and Grunt; Concentrate your fire on one barrier." Shepard yelled, pulling a grenade out. They all obeyed, firing at 1 Asari's barrier endlessly, until finally it broke. The instant it did, Shepard tossed the grenade, and heard his whole team cheer as it blew up and killed at least 10 of them.

"Alright, everyone but James and Tali, keep repeating that. James and Tali, you two take down any enemies that try to exit the shields and come at us from the sides." They all nodded and obeyed. He picked Tali and James only because Tali was on the right and James was on the left, so they could easily guard their sides. Using this strategy, they quickly turned the tables on their enemies, and by the time Edi unlocked the door, all of their enemies lay dead. Panting, Shepard stayed on alert until he was sure no one else was going to come out of the walls, and relaxed.

"Alright, let's go help Davin out." He said, hoping Davin was still alive. He was a tough bastard, but he couldn't take Ultimate alone. They all rushed through the door, and down the hallway connecting the 2 rooms. Just as they got to the door on the opposite side, they heard a loud thump against the wall. Shepard quickly opened the door and they ran through.

The thump had come from Davin, who was just now getting back on too one knee. He looked fucked up; he had a nasty gash on his head that was bleeding straight into his eye, temporarily blinding him in one eye. His left arm hung lifeless next to his body; it looked broken and their was a gash in his armor there, bleeding almost as badly as the gash on his head.

Ultimate looked almost unscathed, but they noticed a long cut across his chest; Davin had managed to actually wound him by himself; Shepard was buying the kid a drink after this. It wasn't deep enough to be mortal, but if Ultimate felt pain at all he was definitely feeling it.

Ultimate turned his head towards them, scowling. He obviously wasn't happy that all of them were alive. "You continue to defy all logic John Shepard. Outnumbered greatly, you somehow managed to escape with no injuries or causalities. I see why Cerberus saw you as a threat. I am growing weary of your presence."

Shepard smiled. "Good, means I'm doing my job right." He turned to Davin. "Will you live?"

Davin turned his head towards Sheppard and nodded, smiling. "Yes, but I only have enough energy for 1 more shot. Next time I hit him, it will be a lot deeper and more mortal than that one is." He paused for a moment, catching his breath, than continued. "Can you create an opening?"

Shepard nodded with no hesitation, and then turned back to Ultimate, glaring at him.

It was time to finish this.

"Everyone, charge!" Shepard yelled, and they all roared in agreement, running at Ultimate like a rabid pack of wolves. Ultimate waved his hand, and Shepard saw Tali and Miranda thrown backwards. Shepard sprinted even faster, knowing he had the only thing that could destroy Ultimate's barrier; his shock gloves, the weapon Ultimate unthinkingly gave to Shepard to be able to take Davin and Liara down quickly. He didn't know at the time that Shepard already knew his barriers weakness.

Just as Shepard was reaching his fist back to deliver the blow, Ultimate turned and pushed his arm straight at Shepard, fingers together as if his arm was a sword. Not only was Shepard thrown back, he felt pain shoot across his chest. He landed hard, feeling the air leave his lungs. He coughed, trying to regain his breath while standing up. He put a hand to his chest and when he looked at it, it was covered in his blood. Apparently Ultimate learned a new trick; it was like he stabbed at Shepard with a sword. If it wasn't for his combat armor, Shepard was sure he'd be dead. It also explained what happened to Davin's arm.

Shepard finally got back to his feet, thinking. It was clear Ultimate wasn't going to let him close enough to hit his barrier. Shepard had to hit his barrier with electricity, without getting up close and personal, but how…

It came to him suddenly, and he wouldn't have been surprised if a light bulb appeared over his head. He looked around until he found Edi, shooting at Ultimate from a distance. "Edi, get over here!" He yelled, seeing Edi turn and run towards him. Her eyes grew wide when she got close to him, seeing his blood.

"You are injured, commander. You need too-"

"No time!" Shepard said, taking the shocking brass knuckles off of his fingers and handing them to Edi. Then he handed Edi his assault rifle. "Can you make the bullets I shoot form this gun electrified with these shock knuckles?"

Edi stared at the gun for a few seconds, and then nodded. He would have cheered under better circumstances. He ran off, and saw things weren't good. James was slumped against the wall, hopefully just knocked out. Miranda was on the ground, clutching her leg, which was cut just like Shepard chest. Tali was just getting up, looking dazed with half of her face swelling up, while Liara was on the ground, hopefully knocked out as well.

He saw Ultimate holding Grunt in mid air, Grunt cussing and kicking to no avail. With a roar to get Ultimate's attention, Shepard ran straight at him. He turned, saw Shepard, and tried to do his stabbing trick. Shepard was ready for it this time, and lunged out of the way, staying on his feet. Just as he got to the barrier, Ultimate let go of Grunt and, using both hands, pushed at Shepard.

Shepard flew back twice as far this time, feeling as if he got hit in the chest by a car. He hit the wall hard, his head snapping back and bouncing off of the wall as well, making pain burst at the back of his skull and his vision go black around the edges. He slid down and hit the ground, almost blacking out completely. He could feel blood slowly traveling down his neck, tickling him. He could feel the pain in his neck in chest. He could feel his arms wobble as he pushed himself up, but none of it stopped him. He stumbled towards Edi, who saw him and threw him his new and improved gun.

He caught it, not even bothering to look at it; he trusted Edi to know what she was doing. He aimed dead center at Ultimate, who was walking towards his group to finish them, and whistled. The instant Ultimate started to turn, he pulled the trigger.

His gun lit up, electricity shooting out of the barrel of his gun along with the bullets. They all hit the barrier directly, and Ultimate watched in horror as it shorted his barrier, causing it to disappear.

"NOW DAVIN!" Shepard roared. Ultimate's eye grew wide, knowing he had completely forgot about Davin, and whipped around, just in time to see a blur shoot towards him. It was too fast too see it, but Shepard did see a lot of blood fly, Davin stop and collapse, and Ultimate take a few steps before collapse himself.

Shepard slowly walked over to where Ultimate had fallen, panting and leaving a trail of blood drops behind him. He pushed Ultimate over, and saw that he was still breathing. Shepard looked down and saw Davin's damage; His hip was gaping open, and Shepard could actually see his spine sticking out, along with some internal organs and the tubes that ran throughout Ultimate's body. He won't survive long like this.

Ultimate opened his eye and looked dead at Shepard, his eyes cold and empty. "Against all odds, you still defeated me. I did not think it was possible." Then Ultimate laughed, leading into him coughing up blood and Shepard's blood running cold.

"What the fuck is so funny about your intestines spilling out of your body?" Shepard asked, knowing that he wouldn't like the answer. Ultimate looked at him again, blood now running out of his mouth. "It is funny because you think by defeating me, this is over. Know this, savior of the galaxy; your time is up." And Ultimate started laughing again, and he didn't stop laughing until Shepard put a bullet in his head, ending him once and for all.

Shepard turned around, sighing and hoping that Ultimate was just trying to screw with him. He saw Tali kneeling over Miranda, trying to help her with her leg. Grunt and Garrus had just woken James up, while Jacob was holding Liara, who it seemed was out for the count. He saw Davin, slumped against a wall and struggling to raise a cigarette to his mouth. Shepard blinked; not knowing Davin even smoked, and walked over there. Davin had just gotten it into his mouth when Shepard arrived, and was failing at using a lighter. Shepard took it from him and pressed the button, the flame bursting from the tip. Davin grunted his thanks and lit his cigarette, breathing it in slowly and releasing it the same way. "I promised Vara I would never smoke again." Davin said, and then laughed. "I also promised her not to use my legs at full capacity. She is going to kick my ass when I finally die."

Shepard chuckled along with him. "You did good Davin. I can say that I'm glad I spared you back on Omega; you're a badass, and have earned my respect."

Davin gaped at him, Shepard being glad to see the emotion back in Davin's eyes. Davin then smiled. "Coming from you, that means a lot. Thank you Commander."

"Aww, isn't that sweet." A voice boomed. Shepard turned, feeling his stomach turn; Ultimate just had to be telling the truth.

A giant TV screen was up on the wall that Shepard hadn't noticed before. On it was a person he had never seen before; he looked like a criminal from a cartoon, with a pointed goatee and a scar that crossed his eye, paired with an eye patch to perfect the image.

The villain smiled. "Oh, how rude of me; I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Samwell Gibson; one of you should know me well."

He heard a gasp behind him. Shepard turned to see it came from Davin, who was now glaring at Samwell. "Who is he Davin?" Shepard asked.

"He was 1 of the 3 leaders of the mercenary group The Golden Roses. I was sent along with 6,000 other soldiers to eliminate them; they had grown bold and been attacking anything to do with aliens. He is more anti-alien then Cerberus was." Davin answered, still glaring at Samwell, who was grinning. "You are supposed to be dead. What do you want?"

Samwell shook his head, going 'tsk tsk' while he did. "You poor fool, Davin. I did not die that fateful day. You should have made sure they took care of me; your freak of a wife would still be alive today if you had."

Shepard literally saw Davin grow pale, and felt his own blood go cold at what the man was saying. "W-what the fuck is that supposed to mean." Davin said, barely able to get it out.

Samwell laughed, increasing Shepard's dislike of him. "What do you think I mean? Who do you think was leading Cerberus right to you? Who do you think set Derrick up as a mole in the Alliance Navy? Who do you think wanted your wife's research?" Samwell smiled even wider. "Who do you think told Derrick exactly where to find your wife? Whose officer do you think killed her nice and slow? Me. I told them, and it was my soldier that cut her multiple times until she fucking bled to death!"

Davin was shaking now; with anger or grief Shepard couldn't tell. Probably both. She heard Tali gasp and cover her mouth, looking at Davin with pity. Shepard glared at this thing calling itself a human. "What do you want, bastard?"

Samwell turned his attention to Shepard, still smiling. "Ah, Commander Shepard. Savior of the galaxy multiple times, the killer of Cerberus, the Reaper exterminator. You have, without realizing it, been a thorn in my side just as much as Davin Kecker; always doing the right thing, stopping my people, you have been a problem for far to long." He laughed, a sound like sandpaper being scratched against metal. "Well, I've got good news; I am now the new general of the Alliance Navy!"

Shepard scoffed. "If you are going to come up with a lie, at least do better than that; there's no way in hell you would be chosen at general. No admiral would allow it."

Shepard saw Samwell smile, and actually started to feel fear. "Normally, no. But as it turns out, Derrick's father, Hansel Grimer, is a good friend of mine, and convinced all of the Admirals but 1 to agree. So it looks like I am telling the truth." He smiled straight at Shepard, knowing he had the advantage here. "And my first order is to capture Commander John Shepard for treason, along with his little friends."

Shepard froze, trying to not believe the words he just heard. But he heard a door behind him open, and Alliance soldiers stormed in, aiming their guns at him and his friends. He glared at Samwell, who waved before the TV shut off.

The Alliance soldier quickly formed a half circle around them, and 1 stepped, obviously the one leading here. "Commander Sheppard," He started. "Just lay down your weapons and surrender peacefully; we will get this all figured out."

Shepard didn't respond, his mind freezing up on him. How could this happen? They had just killed Ultimate. Was this the plan all along? He turned towards his friends, in this mess because of him. "Guys? What do we do? Do we go over quietly and hope we don't get executed for treason we didn't do? Or do we resist the Alliance Navy, and become outlaws?"

No one answered at first. He felt his heart drop; they looked defeated. But Davin proved him wrong, forcing himself to his feet, his left arm waving back and forth. He stood straight up and looked Shepard straight in the eye, saying, "I am not going to turn myself over for treason I did not commit. Even if you guys do, I will fight to my last breath. A bastard like Samwell isn't going to force me to submit."

Shepard nodded, and noticed the Alliance soldiers fidgeting nervously; they knew who he was, and how dangerous he is.

"I'm with you Commander Shepard, now and forever." Tali said, walking over to him and smiling. "No matter what you choose. But I have to agree with Davin; I don't want to get killed for a treason I didn't do."

Shepard smiled at her, placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing. As long as she was with him, he would do just fine. "I'm with you too, Commander." James said, also walking over to them. Garrus came up next, looking at Shepard and saying, "You should already know I have your back, Shepard, no matter what stupid choice you make next." One after the other, they all got up and stood next to him, saying the same thing. It brought a tear to his eyes, seeing all of his friends basically say they would defy the entire Alliance military for him.

The captain of the Alliance soldiers didn't look happy with this new development. "Hey, don't do anything rash now Commander Shepard. I would really hate to have to shoot you."

They all turned towards him, making him actually take a step back. He heard Davin laugh and walk past Shepard, whispering, "Ill do the honors." as he passed by. "Hey guys," He started. "Let's all just relax a bit and-"He whipped his pistol out as fast as a snake and fired in mid sentence, hitting the Captain in the leg. The Captain fell, and Davin fired 2 more times, hitting 2 more soldiers in the legs, before Shepard and everyone else moved. Shepard ran up on the nearest soldier to him. The soldier fired, but Shepard ducked underneath the gun, grabbing the gun and lifting it up. He kneed the soldier in the gut, making him double over, and then grabbed his head and kneed him in the face, knocking him out cold. Shepard turned just in time to see Tali hip toss a soldier over her, the soldier hitting the ground hard then being hit in the face with Garrus's gun, knocking him out. All of the soldiers were either unconscious or in to much pain to move.

Shepard walked over to Davin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you didn't shoot to kill; I was worried for a second." Davin smiled. "Hey, they are just following orders. Would be messed up to kill them for it."

Shepard nodded and turned to Edi. "Tell Joker to get down here. I never want to see this place again." She nodded, and they all made their way to the docking area, not knowing what was in store for them, but knowing they would face it head on.


	10. Chapter 10

_Epilogue_

Shepard plopped down on the nearest chair he found, exhausted from the recent events. He saw everyone follow suit, sitting down and relaxing. He heard Davin groan, Dr. Chakwas working on his arm. They were back on the Normandy, who had used its stealth to sneak past the Alliance fleet, and were now wandering aimlessly until they came up with a plan.

Tali sat on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. He was too tired to speak for the moment, and she either knew that or was feeling the same way. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had been through a lot of shit in his military career, but nothing as depressing as this; being betrayed by the military he had fought and bled for. It didn't matter that this new asshole, Samwell, had become general; they were all at blame for allowing it to happen in the first place.

He laid his head against Tali, thinking. He had no idea where they would go, what they would do. He didn't want to actually fight the Alliance for the rest of his life, or run and hide. But what else could he do? With that guy as general, they were certain to chase him to the ends of the galaxy. They wouldn't let up, and he was growing tired of fighting.

He heard footsteps and saw Dr. Chakwas walking towards them, and he didn't like the frown on her face. "Dr., will he be ok?"

She hesitated, and then nodded. "If you mean 'will he die' then no, he will live. But his arm isn't looking too good. Whatever cut him severed plenty of nerves, and I don't have the necessary supplies here to do anything. I patched his arm up as best as I could. He will be able to use it….hopefully, but not at 100%. He will be lucky if he can close his hand fully again."

Shepard nodded gravely, his heart sinking. Kid already lost his legs, and now could lose the use of his arm fighting for Shepard. They were able to finish Ultimate, but that probably didn't make him feel much better…

As if sensing them talking about him, Davin walked out of the Medical bay, his arm wrapped up in a sling. He sat in the chair opposite of Shepard, smiling.

"Holy shit, whatever drugs she gave me are totally working; I can barely feel my face!" Davin said, laughing. Shepard shook his head, forgetting how quickly the young could get over things. He remembered when he had that attitude.

"So, to start off, I think we should figure out where the hell we are going." Davin said, basically pointing at the elephant in the room. "I don't think we have the fuel to fly in space forever."

No one answered for a long time. Even Shepard had no idea where they could go. Thankfully, Tali did. "Well, Shepard did free Rannoch from the Geth for the Quarians; I don't think they could refuse letting us stay there until we come up with a better place."

Slowly, everyone nodded, agreeing. Shepard smiled and kissed the back of her neck, making her shiver. "What would we do without you Tal."

She scoffed. "Fly around endlessly until we either died or were captured."

"Good, that's out of the way." Davin said, making Shepard raise an eyebrow at him. He had more?

"Now, what's the plan? I doubt you want to fight the entire Alliance fleet, and running for the rest of our lives doesn't sound fun. Got any ideas Commander?"

Shepard shook his head. "No, nothing." Davin nodded in understanding. "No problem, because I have an idea." Davin leaned closer to Shepard. "What we need to do is simple; we find out who all put Samwell on his high horse, kill them, and then kill Samwell as well. He said so himself that one admiral disagreed, so we should also find out who that admiral is, and if we can get him on our side. Once Samwell and his friends are dealt with, we might get punished for it, but I don't think they will serve us the death penalty, and that's a step further than where we are now."

Shepard blinked, amazed that someone who was high on pain killing drugs could think so clearly. "It's a little rough…but better than what we had before. When we get to Rannoch, we can perfect that plan."

Davin nodded, satisfied. He got up and started walking towards his room, then he turned back at Shepard. "Oh, and when we finally corner Samwell, He's mine Commander." With that he left the room.

Shepard sighed. He sensed the hatred in those words, but he couldn't blame him. Tali got up, pulling him up with her. "Come, John, lets go to bed. You look like you could use a massage." She said, then she winked, indicating more. He smiled wearily, and let her lead him towards his room.

He had no idea what was would happen after today, but he wouldn't run away. He would stop this Samwell guy and make sure his entire team gets through it alive.

But for now, He would go and gladly get a massage from Tali.

 **End**

 _Authors noted: I'm sorry that it took so long to finish this fan fiction! I have been very busy with work. But this isn't the end of the story. After I finish The Cure, I will write one more story with Davin and Shepard. I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for reading!_


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